Sri Lanka Opts to Bat First in Opening Test Against England at Old Trafford

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first in the first test of a three-match series against England at Old Trafford. England is without its captain, Ben Stokes, due to injury, with Ollie Pope filling in. Sri Lanka introduced debutant fast bowler Milan Rathnayake.

Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first Wednesday on a dry, hard pitch under some clouds at Old Trafford in the first test of the three-match series.

England, coming off a 3-0 series win over the West Indies, was without captain Ben Stokes in Manchester due to a torn hamstring sustained in a domestic game this month. Ollie Pope filled in as captain, while Dan Lawrence deputized as opener for Zak Crawley, who broke a finger in the West Indies series.

Pope mentioned he would have chosen to bowl first if he had won the toss.

Sri Lanka gave a debut to fast bowler Milan Rathnayake, picked ahead of Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara, marking the start of their first test series in England since 2016.

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

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