1st Test
Day-1 Morning Session Highlights:
England has dominated early by putting Sri Lanka team in to deep trouble
At The Lunch of Day-1:
Sri Lanka scored 80/5 vs England.
England tore through the Sri Lankan lineup on the opening morning of the Test series at Old Trafford, leaving the visitors reeling at 80/5.
Chris Woakes was the standout bowler with two wickets, while Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, and Shoaib Bashir also made early breakthroughs.
Dhananjaya de Silva showed resilience, remaining unbeaten on 28, but Sri Lanka will need much more from him and his teammates after lunch to mount a recovery.
England struck the first blow just five overs in, after Sri Lanka chose to bat.
Atkinson’s pace and bounce surprised Dimuth Karunaratne, whose attempted pull shot resulted in a top edge, comfortably caught by the wicketkeeper.
In the very next over, Woakes dismantled the visitors’ top order with a double-wicket over.
He first lured Nishan Madushka into edging a full-length delivery that was swinging away.
Five balls later, Sri Lanka suffered a huge setback when Woakes removed veteran Angelo Matthews, who was trapped leg-before-wicket after misjudging an in-swinger.
At 6/3, Sri Lanka desperately needed a partnership to steady the ship.
Kusal Mendis provided some hope, driving England’s change in attack by hitting the first boundary in the 11th over, followed by another in the next.
He repeated the feat in Potts’ following over, prompting the introduction of Mark Wood.
The move paid off as Wood struck in his second over, with a short ball that Mendis fended off, only to see it glance off his thumb into the slips.
Bashir then joined the fray, taking a wicket in his second over as well.
Dinesh Chandimal, who had shown some resistance, fell just before lunch, trapped plumb in front by Bashir.
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