Half an hour into the opening morning of this First Test and the outlook was, even beyond Manchester’s promise of habitual drizzle, notably bleak.
Old Trafford’s party stand, only half the size it had been for the Ashes Test here 12 months ago, was half empty. There were blankets out on the hotel balconies and the skies were grey. Above all else, a Sri Lanka side whose batting was supposedly its best shot at making a contest of this series, had been reduced to six for three.
