Everything was set up for a bowling day in south London. After a thunderstorm at 5am, the skies had remained overcast. And with the floodlights on and moisture in the air, not even Dhananjaya de Silva, a captain who chose to bat first in Manchester gloom, and bowl in sunshine at Lord’s, was not going to pass up the opportunity presented here.
But winning the toss was only ever an advantage if backed up by disciplined bowling effort. And on a stop-start day that saw three hours blown out of its middle by the madness that is bad light - and an early cut at 5.54pm when the light-meters once again came out to a chorus of boos - Sri Lanka’s four-pronged seam attack could not capitalise. England, 2-0 up and keen to put on a show, raced to 221 for three from 44.1 overs.
Ollie Pope was the headliner here, entering this final Test of the summer amid a bit of chatter over his suitability for No 3 after a run of low scores. The Oval is his happy place, however, where everything is familiar and comfortable and his first-class numbers are celestial. And as he slotted Asitha Fernando through the covers moments before the early finish, England’s stand-in skipper had Test century number seven. Remarkably, he is the first player in history to get their first seven against different opposition.
The relief out in the middle was palpable (and perhaps papal), Pope having worn a couple of blows to the elbow en route and, overall, reaping the rewards of some diligent net sessions since Lord’s. This was not the craggy ascent of an old pro in tricky conditions, rather an increasingly fluent knock that preyed on anything loose with 13 fours and two sixes. Day two presents a chance for Pope to go even higher than the unbeaten 103 he took to bed; either way, that sleep promised to be sound.
On another day it might have been Ben Duckett’s name up in lights, the left-hander having delivered a typically impish 86 from 79 balls. Straddling that yawning break, it featured an array of ramps and scoops off Lahiru Kumara and only ended when he tried - and failed - to repeat the trick against Milan Rathnayake. This was a very Duckett end to a very Duckett innings; the risk that is inherent in his aggressive approach.
As England ticked along at exactly five runs an over, it was another disappointing outing for Sri Lanka on a tour that began with a promising tussle of a Test match in Manchester but has slightly unspooled since. The chief positive for the tourists was the removal of the in-form Joe Root for just 13 runs, even if, like Duckett and Dan Lawrence before him, it was helped by an error of judgement. The pull shot stuck down long leg’s throat at least rewarded Kumara, a seamer who has pepped up their attack since Lord’s.
The combination of Pope, Duckett and skies that brightened up enough in the afternoon offset some – but not all – of the frustration on the day. Between 12.19pm and 3.10pm no play was possible, with spectators left to mill around in the concourses and possibly question why they had taken a day off to watch a sport that, in 2024, can still stop for bad light. Player safety is important, but then so too is the health of the longest format.
Possible solutions include swapping in a pink ball and forging ahead, with the argument here going that conditions often change wildly in Test matches anyway, while ball changes - such as the pivotal one at Old Trafford - have become commonplace. Either way, it was not like England’s batters were groping hopelessly in the dark.
Duckett had cantered to a 48-ball half-century first thing, surviving a couple of early plays and misses – plus an inside edge that whistled past his stumps - before twice dancing down the pitch to Rathnayake and dispatching the ball with a pair of shotgun cracks. When the light-meters came out, setting the standard for the match bringing an early lunch at 76 for one from 15 overs, he had reason to feel as miffed as the punters.
The one wicket to fall during this truncated session was Lawrence for a single-figure score and not entirely unexpected. Opening the batting has been a trial for all concerned this summer – Duckett is the only man to average north of 30 – and Lawrence, a middle order player crowbarred into the one available spot up top, continued to look torn between his natural instincts and a desire to pay respect to the hard new Dukes ball.
In the end, even with the scoreboard moving through Duckett’s elan, Lawrence could not help himself. He tried to manufacture an ambitious pull shot off Kumara, sent it skywards with a top edge, and started his walk back to the dressing room before the ball had even begun its descent into grateful hands. There is one innings left for Lawrence to state his case to be the spare batter this winter, with the uncapped Jordan Cox his rival here.
Another hoping to make the cut is Josh Hull – “6ft heaps and from good farming stock” as per Brendon McCullum – who will hope the clouds remain when his chance comes. Still, having been handed his cap by Andrew Flintoff first thing, the speech bringing a tear to his mother’s eye in the team huddle, it was still a day to remember.
