Pope hundred gives England upper hand on Sri Lanka

Third Test, The Kia Oval (day 1 of five)

England 221-3: Pope 103*, Duckett 86

Sri Lanka: Yet to bat

Scorecard

Stand-in skipper Ollie Pope answered his critics pinch a sparkling period connected a truncated first time of England’s 3rd Test against Sri Lanka astatine The Kia Oval.

Pope looked sick astatine easiness astatine nan crease successful stepping up to switch nan injured Ben Stokes, managing only 30 runs successful nan first 2 Tests, but recovered comfortableness connected his location crushed to ace an unbeaten 103.

The skipper’s ton led nan location broadside to 221-3, a position of spot they had nary business being successful aft losing nan flip and being asked to bat successful conditions perfect for bowling.

The grey entity refused to brighten, nan floodlights were connected each time and location was a lengthy hold for bad ray and rain, yet Sri Lanka were incapable of taking advantage.

Pope added 95 for nan 2nd wicket pinch Ben Duckett, who played immoderate breath-taking strokes successful 86 from conscionable 79 balls. In a third-wicket guidelines of 51 betwixt Pope and Joe Root, Root contributed conscionable 13.

Though play could person perchance been extended until 19:30 BST, a conflict pinch nan ray was ever apt and nan players were again taken from nan section astatine 17:54 1 transportation into nan 45th over.

England, 2-0 up, are looking for their 2nd bid cleanable expanse successful succession and a first 100% location summertime successful 20 years.

Sri Lanka’s only erstwhile sojourn to The Oval, successful 1998, produced 1 of their top Test victories, erstwhile Muttiah Muralitharan took 16 wickets successful nan match.

This was an abysmal return, a scruffy end-of-tour capacity from a broadside that person already mislaid nan series. They packed their broadside pinch 4 frontline seamers, yet seldom put nan shot successful nan correct spot and were often sloppy successful nan field.

If Sri Lanka were bad, nan first hold for bad ray was borderline farcical and reignited nan statement astir nan hesitancy to play Test cricket successful gloomy conditions. In nan 80 minutes imaginable successful nan greeting session, England scored astatine almost a tally a ball, truthful it was difficult to make a lawsuit nan batters were compromised successful immoderate way.

The murk and mizzle kept nan players disconnected for almost 3 hours, though nan break did small to stall England’s momentum. Duckett was flying and Pope eased into his slipstream.

The ovation erstwhile Pope reached his 100 was filled pinch warmth from a crowd knowing of nan scrutiny nan Surrey man has been subjected to.

It was different play erstwhile nan batters looked wholly comfortable, and nan joyousness turned to boos when, soon after, nan players were led disconnected for a 2nd and last time.