LONDON: Ollie Pope was eyeing a century after making his first fifty as England captain to leave the hosts in control on an interrupted opening day of the third Test against Sri Lanka on Friday. England, chasing a series whitewash, were 194-3 after losing the toss in overcast, bowler-friendly conditions at the Oval, with opener Ben
Duckett making a dashing 86 before giving his wicket away. Pope was 84 not out, off just 85 balls on his Surrey home ground, having managed a mere 30 runs in four previous innings since succeeding the injured Ben Stokes as skipper at the start of this series.
A rare bright spot for struggling Sri Lanka was the dismissal of Joe Root for 13 shortly before tea. Root was fresh from two hundreds in a 190-run win at Lord´s where he set a new England record of 34 Test centuries.
England are 2-0 up in this three-match contest. They swept the West Indies 3-0 earlier this season. A victory at the Oval would give England their first home Test campaign clean sweep since 2004, when Michael Vaughan oversaw seven successive wins.
Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss and, with gloomy skies promising to aid his four-man pace attack, opted to field first. Duckett was soon into his stride, with the left-hander cover-driving fours off successive Milan Rathnayake deliveries.
It was a different story for makeshift opener Dan Lawrence, a middle-order batsman by trade. Lawrence was forced to face the new ball this series in the absence of the injured Zak Crawley.
He had made just five when he got in a tangle against a short-pitched Lahiru Kumara delivery and top-edged a simple catch to gully. Number three Pope got off the mark in style by cutting a loose ball from Rathnayake for four and he also hooked a six off Lahiru Kumara.
The 29-year-old Duckett completed a speedy fifty off just 48 balls, including seven fours. Even with the floodlights on, the umpires decided it was too dangerous to continue and stopped play for bad light just 79 minutes into the day´s action, with England 76-1 off 15 overs.
With rain falling as well, the match did not resume until 1410 GMT. It was not long before Duckett ramped Kumara for six over fine leg as wayward Sri Lanka again failed to make the most of helpful overcast conditions and a green-tinged pitch.
Duckett uppercut a Kumara bouncer for six high over third man before, on 86, surviving the paceman´s lbw review on umpire´s call. But Duckett fell on the same score when he miscued an extravagant scoop off Rathnayake to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal.
It was a careless end to a partnership of 95 in 16 overs with Pope. The 26-year-old Pope was fortunate with a top-edged six off Kumara before completing a 58-ball fifty featuring five fours and two sixes. Kumara struck when Root hooked him to fine leg, where Vishwa Fernando held onto the catch despite slipping on the wet turf.
Sri Lanka won the toss
England 1st Innings
Duckett c Chandimal b Rathnayake 86
Lawrence c Nissanka b Kumara 5
Pope (c) not out 89
Root c MVT Fernando b Kumara 13
Brook not out 1
Extras: (b 4, lb 1, w 1) 6
Total: 41 Ov (RR: 4.87) 200/3
Yet to bat: Jamie Smith , Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone, Shoaib Bashir, Josh Hull
Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-140, 3-191
Bowling: Asitha Fernando 12-0-42-0, Vishwa Fernando 7-0-29-0, Lahiru Kumara 11-1-76-2, Milan Rathnayake 8-2-34-1, Angelo Mathews 3-0-14-0
Sri Lanka Team: Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal , Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kamindu Mendis, Milan Rathnayake, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Fernando