ENG vs SL : Milan Ratnayake Plays A Gritty Knock On Debut To Drag Sri Lanka To 236 After Collapse Against The Mighty England

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Dhananjaya de Silva justified his own decision to bat first with a gutsy 74 from 84 balls, while Milan Ratnayake followed his captain’s lead with a startlingly composed knock of 72 from 135 balls, the highest by a debutant at No.9 in Test history. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, however, even those exceptional efforts couldn’t quite atone for a dreadful top-order collapse that had handed England control of the first Test by stumps on day one at Emirates Old Trafford.

Milan Ratnayake made an impression on debut to drag Sri Lanka to a respectable 236 after England put in a dominant performance with the ball on the opening day of the first Test at Old Trafford. Sri Lanka lost their top five in the morning session and were looking in deep trouble before skipper Dhananjaya de Silva stepped up with a crucial half-century. Dhananjaya joined forces with Milan Ratnayake as the duo ensured Sri Lanka went past the 200-run mark.

Pitch and Toss

Unlike Lord’s or other venues in England, Old Trafford helps the batter as the average score here at this pitch is 332. Seamers will get assistance in the starts but the fans can expect a high scoring game.

Sri Lanka skipper Dhananjaya De Silva  won the toss and have opted to bat with debutant Milan Ratnayake making his place in Sri Lanka Playing XI. England skipper Ollie Pope bowling first would be without the services of Ben Stokes .

Prior to the start of play, both sides lined up on the outfield for a tribute to the late Graham Thorpe, who died on August 4, aged 55. England will be wearing black armbands throughout the match in memory of an England great who averaged 44.66 in a 100-Test career, and went on to play a key role as a batting mentor to many of the current team, including Pope, Root and Stokes.

England seamers struck to derail Sri Lanka in the Morning session

England needed only five overs to strike in the morning after Sri Lanka opted to bat first. Dimuth Karunaratne was caught off guard by a rising delivery from Gus Atkinson which he attempted to pull, only to get a top edge and depart. Chris Woakes then reduced the visitors to 6/3 by picking two wickets in a single over, including the big one of Angelo Matthews.

The first boundaries of the match came in the 11th over when Kusal Mendis smashed Matthew Potts for successive fours. He repeated the feat in Potts’ next over as well which prompted the introduction of Mark Wood. That move worked as Wood bowled a snorter to see the back of Mendis. Shoaib Bashir then opened his account before the lunch break to trap Dinesh Chandimal plumb in front.

England continued to make merry post lunch as well with Woakes picking his third to see the back of Kamindu Mendis. Dhananjaya then got going with a boundary but when the seventh wicket fell, England sensed a real chance to bowl Sri Lanka out for a paltry score.

And, even though that total was seemingly below-par on a hard and dry surface that Pope anticipated would stay true for the first half of the match at least, it was riches compared to what had been anticipated after the first half-hour of the contest. At that point, Sri Lanka’s innings had been in tatters at 6 for 3 after seven overs, with all three wickets falling in the space of ten deliveries to Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes.

The first blow was landed by Atkinson, who had limited Dimuth Karunaratne to a solitary scoring stroke in his first 17 deliveries, only for the batter to fluff his first shot in anger, a swish across the line to a well-directed lifter. Four balls later, Nishan Madushka early discipline also deserted him as Woakes served up a juicy outswinger that he could only scuff straight to Joe Root at first slip, who clung on in the heel of his palms.

And with the final ball of the same over, Woakes had his second courtesy of a ghastly misjudgement from Angelo Mathews. The hero of the 2014 series win was gone for a five-ball duck, burning a review in the process as he offered no stroke to an in ducker that was shown to be hitting the top of middle.

Kusal and Chandimal showed some gumption in a limited counterattack, with the first five boundaries of the innings all coming in the space of 12 balls, four of them to Kusal off Matthew Potts, whose wide angle into the stumps offered the chance to free the hands through the off-side, and who would finish as the attack’s weakest link with 48 runs from his nine overs.

But, after limping to drinks on 37 for 3, there was another challenge waiting for the second hour. Wood tore into his opening spell with typical gusto, and struck with his seventh ball – a gruesomely quick lifter to Kusal that crashed into his left thumb and looped to Harry Brook at second slip. Much like the snorter that broke Kevin Sinclair’s wrist in the West Indies series, Kusal left the crease wringing his hand, and looking in urgent need of an ice-pack at the very least.

Out came de Silva to shore up the listing innings, but with lunch approaching, his measured stand of 32 in seven overs with Chandimal was undone in cruel and unusual fashion. Shoaib Bashir entered the attack for an exploratory pre-lunch spell, and struck in his second over with an unplayable daisy cutter, reminiscent of Nasser Hussain’s viral moment against Carl Hooper in Trinidad in 1998.

Though Chandimal gambled on the review, hoping against hope that he’d been struck outside the line, Bashir’s sheepish appeal and celebration could have told him everything he needed to know.

That would, however, be the nadir of Sri Lanka’s innings. De Silva himself grew into his role either side of the lunch break, farming the strike well in between a diet of eight well-struck boundaries, each of them showcasing his sharp footwork and delicate balance, not to mention his pre-toss faith in the surface’s true nature.

Though there would be some more guileless dismissals to come – with both Kamindu Mendis and Prabhat Jayasuriya snicking off with uncertain footwork after Woakes and Atkinson had varied their lines and lengths –  Milan Ratnayake would not prove quite so gullible in his shot selection. However, there was a turnaround in store with Milan Ratnayake standing firm. While Dhananjaya scored fluently, Milan Ratnayake put up a dodgy resistance at the other end. The pair added over 50 with the skipper looking good for a three-figure score.

Milan Ratnayake shines on debut to drag Sri Lanka to 236

Despite channelling a bashful schoolboy while being presented with his Test cap by Kumar Sangakkara before the start of play, Sri Lanka’s debutant Milan Ratnayake was more than man enough to withstand England’s eager attempts to dislodge him. Milan Ratnayake’s first role was to act as de Silva’s doughty sidekick, which he did to superb effect, picking off the first of his four fours in an eighth-wicket stand of 63.

And then, when disaster had seemingly struck just before tea, with de Silva fencing a Bashir off break to Lawrence at leg slip to leave his team on 176 for 8, Milan Ratnayake took up the cudgels for his team with impressive results. Despite boasting a previous best of 59 in 52 previous first-class innings, he picked the perfect moments to cut loose, first with a lusty swing over long-on to reach his half-century, and then a sweet drill over long-off to move along to a new career-high.

England did at one stage attempt to bring Wood back into the attack to break up his burgeoning 50-run stand with Vishwa, but with his jumper halfway over his shoulders, the umpires stepped in to insist that the light was too poor for the pace bowlers. And though it took a while, Bashir eventually did the needful, tempting Ratnayake into one lofted launch too many, as Woakes back-pedaled at mid-off to end his fun.

Against the run of play, England struck before the Tea break much to their relief as Bashir got rid of the dangerman Dhananjaya as the skipper only managed to find the fielder at leg slip in his attempt to glance. That put the onus on Ratnayake to put up a fight in the final session. He frustrated England for a brief period after resumption and found support from Vishwa Fernando at the other end.

A massive six over long on brought up a stunning fifty and at one stage, England were forced to bowl spin from both ends as a result of the light conditions. That played into the set batter’s hands as he hammered a six off Joe Root and a four off Bashir to keep England at bay.

The resistance finally came to an end when Ratnayake couldn’t get enough elevation in his attempt for a third six as he departed for 72. England then completed the formalities quickly to bowl Sri Lanka out for 236. The poor light conditions persisted which meant Sri Lanka had to open with spin from both ends. England did knock off 22 runs from four overs before the light was deemed not good enough for further play in the day.

With half-an-hour to the close, Sri Lanka also turned instantly to slow bowling as the reply got underway, with two spinners sharing the new ball in a men’s Test in England for only the second time since 1970. With Lawrence opening the batting in place of Zak Crawley, he and Ben Duckett showed the probable riches still on offer in the surface, in clattering along to 22 for 0 in four overs.

Day 2 Expectations for England and Sri Lanka

An interesting day of Test cricket that was. England had a dream start earlier in the day as Atkinson and Woakes removed the Sri Lankan openers in successive overs and the two pacers got a few more wickets following that. Sri Lanka were reduced for 113/7 in the post-lunch session, however, de Silva and Ratnayake played pivotal knocks to give Sri Lanka’s total some respectability.

Shoaib Bashir was also amongst wickets as the off-spinner claimed three wickets in the 23 overs he bowled. England couldn’t bowl pace due to poor light conditions in the final session, however, their spinners finished off the tail by bowling in tandem. Sri Lanka couldn’t bowl pace either and England managed to score 22 runs in the 4 overs of spin they faced before bad light stopped play. Day 2 promise to be another eventful day with rain predicted over next few days.

Also Read: IND vs ENG: “Side Arm Specialists In India Need To Work Hard To Prepare Batters For Tough Times”- Abhishek Jain Gives His Invaluable Insights


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