England vs SL: Ollie Pope becomes England's 82nd Test captain
Ollie Pope has become the 82nd English player to captain England in Test cricket. He attained the mark while leading England out against Sri Lanka in the first Test at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester on Wednesday. Pope leads England as Ben Stokes was earlier ruled out of the English summer following a hamstring injury. Pope brings plenty of leadership attributes and quality.
SL bat first in Manchester
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first in Manchester. Skipper Dhananjaya de Silva leads the Lankan side as Milan Priyanath Rathnayake got his Test cap. For England, Daniel Lawrence has replaced an injured Zak Crawley atop. Matthew Potts has come in too.
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Here are the two teams
England (Playing XI): Daniel Lawrence, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope(c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir. Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal(w), Dhananjaya de Silva(c), Kamindu Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Milan Priyanath Rathnayake.
Pope owns 2,690 runs in Tests
Pope is featuring in his 47th match in Test cricket. He owns 2,690 runs from 81 innings to date at an average of 35.39. In addition to six hundreds, Pope has clobbered 13 fifties with the best of 205. As per ESPNcricinfo, in 25 matches on homse soil, Pope has accumulated 1,426 runs at 38.54. He is playing his debut match against SL.
