LONDON: Ben Duckett made a rapid 86 and Ollie Pope an unbeaten 84 to lead England to 194-3 at tea on a weather-affected first day of the third test against Sri Lanka at The Oval on Friday.
Put into bat under gloomy skies, England lost the early wicket of Dan Lawrence but Duckett made light of tricky batting conditions to reach his half-century from 48 balls before play was halted due to bad light.
Lawrence, on five, skied an ambitious pull off Lahiru Kumara and was caught by Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva, the opener trudging off disconsolately after another failure on his return to the side.
The umpires led the players off the field with England on 76-1 and it was nearly three hours before the match resumed.
Duckett continued to play positively, hitting a brilliant six with a ramp off Kumara before attempting a similar shot off Milan Rathnayake and giving wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal a simple catch.
Pope, under pressure to make runs after a disappointing series with the bat, signalled his intentions with an early six over backward square leg off Kumara.
He was joined by Joe Root, who made two centuries in the last test at Lord’s, but the former captain only made 13 before he was well caught at long leg by Vishwa Fernando off Kumara.
Pope will resume in the final session alongside Harry Brook as England look to secure their sixth victory and complete a 3-0 sweep of the series.
