MANCHESTER: Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva stood firm as his remaining batsmen struggled around him to score a fluent half-century. Milan Rathnayake followed his captain’s example and scored a fifty on his debut to keep Sri Lanka in the game at the end of a thrilling first day of cricket in the first Test against England at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka won the toss and batted first, finishing on 236 after trailing 6-3 at one point. England responded with 22 for no loss before bad light ended play 10 overs from the end of the day.

The first session belonged all to England as their fast bowlers were able to outscore the Sri Lankan batting early on, reducing them to 80-5 by lunchtime. De Silva led a batting resurgence in the afternoon session as Sri Lanka added 93 and lost three more wickets. De Silva showed his team how to play on this surface and attacked England whenever he got the chance. He looked to be on to a hundred when he went down in the penultimate over before tea, bowling spinner Shoaib Bashir into the waiting hands of Dan Lawrence at leg slip. De Silva hit eight fours in his 84-ball knock of 74 and seemed so comfortable playing against the English bowlers compared to his other teammates.

Rathnayake put up a stiff resistance at the other end and De Silva scored 63 for the eighth wicket. After his captain’s departure, Rathnayake took over as the senior batsman and completed a magnificent half-century off 96 balls (5 fours, 1 six). He hit the milestone with a six off Bashir to take Sri Lanka’s 200, which once seemed impossible. It was a brave knock from the left-hander who took a few knocks from the fast bowlers but still carried on and outshone some of the top batsmen.

Rathnayake was selected as the third seamer and was perhaps inspired by the encouraging words and advice given by former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara (himself a left-hander) before receiving his Test cap earlier in the day. Rathnayake put in a brave batting performance, scoring a combative 72 from 135 balls (6 fours, 2 sixes) and adding 50 valuable runs for the ninth wicket, while Vishwa Fernando contributed just seven runs.

When Sri Lanka and England played, the sun was shining and De Silva did not hesitate to bat first. But by the time Sri Lanka came to bat, the conditions had changed and under a blanket of clouds, it was a completely different ball game with a lot of movement, pace and bounce that the Sri Lankan top order could not cope with.

Sri Lanka survived the first five overs, but after that Dimuth Karunaratne fell victim to the first bouncer of the match, which caught the ball off the wicket-keeper and Gus Atkinson, and four balls later his partner Nishan Madushka followed, chasing a long ball from Chris Woakes. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Angelo Mathews shouldered his arms after a ball which bounced low off Woakes and was ruled LBW, leaving Sri Lanka 6-3 at the end of the 7th over.

Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal showed some intent in pushing the ball into the gaps and added 34, but the arrival of Mark Wood was responsible for Mendis’ wicket – a brutal 93mph delivery that bounced off the bottom thumb and lobbed to Harry Brook at first slip. Chandimal was done in by a ball that stayed low and hit him ankle-high from Bashir, surprising him. Both Mathews and Chandimal were undone by the low bounce that is rarely seen on a day

a pitch.

Conditions were initially grueling and demanding, with difficult batting conditions in the first session, but they improved as the day went on as the ball softened and batting became easier. Players from both teams wore black armbands in honour of former England cricketer Graham Thorpe, who passed away five days ago aged 55.

SCOREBOARD

SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS

N. Madushka c root b woakes 4

D. Karunaratne c Smith b Atkinson 2

Kusal Mendis c stream b forest 24

A. Mathews lbw b Woakes 0

D Chandimal lbw b Bashir 17

D. de Silva c Lawrence b Bashir 74

Kamindu Mendis c Smith b Woakes 12

P. Jayasuriya c Smith b Atkinson 10

M. Rathnayake c Woakes b Bashir 72

V. Fernando Expiry 13

A.Fernando not from 0

Extras (b-4, nb-1, w-3) 8

In total (all out, 74 overs) 236

Fall of Wickets: 1-6 (Karunaratne), 2-6 (Madushka), 3-6 (Mathews), 4-40 (Kusal Mendis), 5-72 (Chandimal), 6-92 (Kamindu Mendis), 7- 113 (Jayasuriya), 8-176 (De Silva), 9-226 (Rathnayake), 10-236 (V Fernando).

Bowling: Woakes 11-3-32-3, Atkinson 16-3-48-2 (1nb, 3w), Potts 9-0-48-0, Wood 8-0-31-1, Bashir 23-4-55- 3, Roots 7-2-18-0.

ENGLAND 1ST INNINGS

D. Lawrence not from 9

B. Duckett not from 13

Extras 0

In total (no loss at the end, 4 overs) 22

At bat: O. Pope, J. Root, H. Brook, J. Smith, C. Woakes, G. Atkinson, M. Potts, M. Wood, S. Bashir

Bowling: De Silva 2-0-14-0, Jayasuriya 2-0-8-0.

I couldn’t sleep when I heard I was playing – Rathnayake

Milan Rathnayake, who captained Dhananjaya de Silva to save Sri Lanka’s first innings on the first day of the first Test against England at Old Trafford, said he had been unable to sleep the day before the match after learning he would be in the final eleven.

Sri Lanka announced their team line-up a day before the Test and Rathnayake was so overjoyed to hear that he would be making his Test debut that he had sleepless nights.

However, his concentration in the middle was not affected when he came to bat with Sri Lanka reeling at 113-7. He was involved in two half-century partnerships with his captain and then with keeper Vishwa Fernando and scored 50 on his debut to help Sri Lanka to a respectable total of 236.

“When I came to bat, the captain told me to bat as long as I could, which I did,” said Rathnayake, who held on bravely and scored 72 off 135 balls.

As a net bowler, Rathnayake was asked by fast bowling coach Chamila Gamage to join Air Force SC but after a couple of seasons he went to Australia to play cricket. However, this stint was cut short by COVID-19 and he was forced to return to Sri Lanka where he joined Moors SC from where he continued his career. He has no other credentials as a batsman except for scoring two first-class fifties but all that was laid to rest with his lion-hearted batting yesterday. – (ST)