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De Silva and Rathnayake Rescue Sri Lanka After Top-Order Collapse Against England
De Silva and Rathnayake Rescue Sri Lanka After Top-Order Collapse Against England
Sri Lanka captain and debutant revive team from early collapse, but England unbeaten at the close of Day 1
Dhananjaya de Silva proved that his decision to bat first was absolutely right as he was able to gain 74 runs out of 84 balls meanwhile on the other hand Milan Rathnayake followed the footprints of his captain and was knocked out by scoring 72 runs out of 135 balls which is also the highest score gained by the debutant in No.9 Test history. Despite their great efforts, Sri Lanka couldn't fully recover from a terrible start by their top order, which allowed England to take control of the first Test by the end of day one at Emirates Old Trafford.
Vishwa Fernando was the last man to get out, he scored 13 runs out of 61 balls in innings remindful of his famous last-wicket stand with Kusal Perera at Durham in 2019, Now Sri Lanka scored 236 runs before it bowled out in the half-light gloomy evening. Afterwards, England will depend solely on spin bowling for the last hour of their session, posing an early test for Ollie Pope's tactical skills on his first day standing in as captain for Ben Stokes.
Even though the total seemed low on a hard and dry pitch that Pope expected to remain good for batting for at least the first half of the match, it was much better than what was expected after the first half-hour. At that point, Sri Lanka's innings were in ruins at 6 for 3 after seven overs, with Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes taking three wickets in just ten balls.
Atkinson was the first to take a wicket, keeping Dimuth Karunaratne to just one run in his first 17 balls. Karunaratne then tried a risky shot and got out. Four balls later, Nishan Madushka lost concentration and edged a ball from Woakes to Joe Root at first slip, who caught it with the bottom of his hands.
On the last ball of the same over, Woakes got his second wicket due to a terrible mistake by Angelo Mathews. The star of the 2014 series win was out for a five-ball duck, wasting a review as he didn't play a shot to a ball that was shown to be hitting the top of the middle stump.
Kusal and Chandimal showed some determination in their counterattack. They hit the first five boundaries of the innings within 12 balls, with Kusal hitting four of them off Matthew Potts. Potts' wide angle into the stumps allowed Kusal to play shots through the off-side. Potts ended up being the weakest link in the attack, giving away 48 runs in his nine overs.
After struggling to 37 for 3 at the drinks break, another challenge awaited in the second hour. Wood bowled with his usual energy and got a wicket with his seventh ball. It was a very fast delivery that hit Kusal's left thumb and flew to Harry Brook at second slip. Similar to the ball that broke Kevin Sinclair's wrist in the West Indies series, Kusal left the field holding his hand and clearly needing an ice pack.
De Silva came in to steady the innings, and he and Chandimal added 32 runs in seven overs. But just before lunch, Shoaib Bashir bowled an unplayable ball that got Chandimal out in a surprising way. This delivery was similar to Nasser Hussain's famous moment against Carl Hooper in Trinidad in 1998. Chandimal reviewed the decision, hoping he was hit outside the line, but Bashir's modest celebration showed he knew it was out.
That was the lowest point of Sri Lanka's innings. De Silva then settled into his role, both before and after the lunch break. He managed the strike well and hit eight well-timed boundaries, showing off his quick footwork and good balance, as well as his confidence in the pitch's true nature.
There were more straightforward dismissals, with Kamindu Mendis and Prabath Jayasuriya edging the ball due to uncertain footwork as Woakes and Atkinson changed their lines and lengths. However, Rathnayake was more careful with his shot selection.
Although he seemed shy when receiving his Test cap from Kumar Sangakkara before the match, Sri Lanka's debutant proved strong enough to resist England's efforts to get him out. His initial task was to support de Silva, which he did excellently, hitting the first of his four boundaries in a partnership of 63 runs for the eighth wicket.
Just before tea, it looked like disaster struck when de Silva edged a Bashir offbreak to Lawrence at leg slip, leaving the team at 176 for 8. However, Rathnayake stepped up impressively. Despite having a previous best score of 59 in 52 first-class innings, he picked the perfect moments to attack. He hit a powerful shot over long-on to reach his half-century and then a clean drive over long-off to achieve a new career-high score.
At one point, England tried to bring Wood back into the attack to break Rathnayake and Vishwa's growing 50-run partnership. However, the umpires stopped him, saying the light was too poor for fast bowlers. Eventually, Bashir managed to get Rathnayake out by tempting him into one too many big shots, with Woakes catching the ball at mid-off to end Rathnayake's innings.
With half an hour left in the day, Sri Lanka switched to slow bowling, using two spinners to open the attack. This was only the second time since 1970 that two spinners shared the new ball in a men's Test in England. Lawrence, opening in place of Zak Crawley, and Ben Duckett took advantage of the pitch, quickly reaching 22 for 0 in four overs.
Before the match started, both teams lined up on the field to pay tribute to the late Graham Thorpe, who passed away on August 4 at the age of 55. England players are wearing black armbands in memory of Thorpe, who had a remarkable Test career with an average of 44.66 over 100 matches and later became a key batting mentor for many current players, including Pope, Root, and Stokes.
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