Sri Lanka bat first in opening test against England

MANCHESTER, England : Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss and opted to bat in the first test of a three-match series against England on Wednesday under cloudy skies at Old Trafford.

Sri Lanka head into the match off the back of a seven-wicket defeat by the England Lions while England claimed a comprehensive 3-0 victory in a test series against West Indies last month.

England will be captained by Ollie Pope after Ben Stokes was ruled out for the rest of the English summer following a hamstring injury.

England players will wear black armbands in memory of former England batsman and coach Graham Thorpe who died at the age of 55 this month.

Teams:

England: Dan Lawrence, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir.

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal (wicketkeeper), Dhananjaya de Silva (captain), Kamindu Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Milan Rathnayake