Pope hundred gives England upper hand on Sri Lanka

Third Test, The Kia Oval (day one of five)

England 221-3: Pope 103*, Duckett 86

Sri Lanka: Yet to bat

Scorecard

Stand-in captain Ollie Pope answered his critics with a sparkling century on a truncated first day of England’s third Test against Sri Lanka at The Kia Oval.

Pope looked ill at ease at the crease in stepping up to replace the injured Ben Stokes, managing only 30 runs in the first two Tests, but found comfort on his home ground to crack an unbeaten 103.

The skipper’s ton led the home side to 221-3, a position of strength they had no business being in after losing the toss and being asked to bat in conditions ideal for bowling.

The grey sky refused to brighten, the floodlights were on all day and there was a lengthy delay for bad light and rain, yet Sri Lanka were incapable of taking advantage.

Pope added 95 for the second wicket with Ben Duckett, who played some breath-taking strokes in 86 from just 79 balls. In a third-wicket stand of 51 between Pope and Joe Root, Root contributed just 13.

Though play could have possibly been extended until 19:30 BST, a battle with the light was always likely and the players were again taken from the field at 17:54 one delivery into the 45th over.

England, 2-0 up, are looking for their second series clean sweep in succession and a first 100% home summer in 20 years.

Sri Lanka’s only previous visit to The Oval, in 1998, produced one of their greatest Test victories, when Muttiah Muralitharan took 16 wickets in the match.

This was an abysmal return, a scruffy end-of-tour performance from a side that have already lost the series. They packed their side with four frontline seamers, yet rarely put the ball in the right place and were often sloppy in the field.

If Sri Lanka were bad, the initial delay for bad light was borderline farcical and reignited the debate about the hesitancy to play Test cricket in gloomy conditions. In the 80 minutes possible in the morning session, England scored at almost a run a ball, so it was hard to make a case the batters were compromised in any way.

The murk and mizzle kept the players off for almost three hours, though the break did little to stall England’s momentum. Duckett was flying and Pope eased into his slipstream.

The ovation when Pope reached his hundred was filled with warmth from a crowd understanding of the scrutiny the Surrey man has been subjected to.

It was another period when the batters looked entirely comfortable, and the joy turned to boos when, shortly after, the players were led off for a second and final time.