Ton-Up Ollie Pope Back In Runs As England Make Sri Lanka Struggle

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.   

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, who swept the West Indies 3-0 earlier this season are chasing their first home Test campaign clean sweep since 2004, when Michael Vaughan oversaw seven successive wins.

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 fast bowler Rathnayake for four and he also hooked a six off Lahiru Kumara. 

The 29-year-old Duckett