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Captain Ben Stokes will return to the England test side after missing this month's series victory against Sri Lanka, the country's cricket board (ECB) said on Tuesday after they announced a 17-member squad for October's tour of Pakistan.
Ollie Pope returned to form on his Oval home ground with a first hundred as England captain on Friday's opening day of the third Test against Sri Lanka. Pope had managed a mere 30 runs in four previous innings since succeeding the injured Ben Stokes as skipper at the start of this series. But when bad light ended play for the day, Pope was a run-a-ball 103 not out, with England well-placed on 221-3. Sri Lanka, already 2-0 down in this three-match series, failed to make the most of overcast conditions and a green-tinged pitch after captain Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss. And England should arguably have had two century-makers on Friday with opener Ben Duckett, not for the first time, giving his wicket away after making 86.
Jamie Smith's latest Test fifty took England into a narrow first-innings lead in their series opener against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford on Thursday. England were 259-6 in reply to Sri Lanka's 236, a slender advantage of 23 runs, when a combination of bad light and rain forced an early close to the second day of the three-Test series. Smith, promoted up the order to No 6 in the absence of injured captain Ben Stokes, was 72 not out -- the 24-year-old wicketkeeper's third fifty in his four Tests.
Play on the second day of the first Test between England and Sri Lanka at Old Trafford resumed on Thursday after rain washed out the morning session.
MANCHESTER, England :England went into tea at 176-4 on the second day of the opening test against Sri Lanka on the back of Harry Brook's half-century to trail by 60 runs after Thursday's first session had been washed out due to rain.
Dhananjaya de Silva and debutant fast bowler Milan Rathnayake both made fine fifties as Sri Lanka recovered from a dramatic top-order collapse on Wednesday's opening day of the first Test against England at Old Trafford. Sri Lanka were in dire straits at 6-3 after skipper De Silva won the toss, losing their first three wickets for no runs in 10 balls.
Sri Lanka debutant Milan Rathnayake broke a 41-year-old Test record by putting up the highest score by a batter at the number 9 spot in men's red-ball cricket. The 28-year-old surpassed India's Balwinder Sandhu's record of 71, a splendid knock that came against Pakistan in Hyderabad in 1983. On the opening day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and England in Manchester, the visitors put up a valiant fight, and Rathnayake was at the centre stage of all the action.
England head into the first Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford starting Wednesday with several players given a chance to prove a point after captain Ben Stokes's series-ending injury. Star all-rounder Stokes is set to play no part at all in the three-match contest after tearing his hamstring during the Hundred. And that means England will be without their inspirational leader for the first time since Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum launched the team's dynamic 'Bazball' era two years ago.