Ollie Pope’s ton puts England in strong position against Sri Lanka

OLLIE Pope marked a return to form on the opening day of the third Test against Sri Lanka, scoring his first century as England captain at his home ground, The Oval. By the time bad light stopped play on Friday, Pope was 103 not out from 103 balls, leading England to 221-3.

This innings was a turnaround for Pope, who had managed just 30 runs in his previous four innings since stepping in for the injured Ben Stokes as captain. Sri Lanka, already trailing 2-0 in the series, could not capitalise on the overcast conditions or the green-tinged pitch after winning the toss through skipper Dhananjaya de Silva.

England were on track for another potential century from opener Ben Duckett, who scored 86 before being dismissed. Duckett commended Pope for blocking out external criticism, including from former England captain Michael Vaughan, who questioned Pope’s ability to handle both leadership and batting at No. 3.

"It shouldn't be the case but there has been quite a lot of noise around Popey in the last couple of weeks," Duckett said. "To block that out and score an incredible hundred was so good."

Duckett himself had been in good form, driving fours off successive deliveries from Milan Rathnayake, but fell short of a century after miscuing a scoop shot to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal off Rathnayake.

"It might be a learning day for me but it's a shot I've been thinking of playing in Test cricket for a long time," Duckett reflected. "It felt like the right option."

A brief bright spot for Sri Lanka came when Joe Root, fresh from two hundreds in the previous match at Lord's, was dismissed for 13, caught at fine leg by Vishwa Fernando after a hook shot.

Duckett completed his fifty off just 48 balls, including seven fours, while Pope got off the mark with a cut for four and hooked a six off Lahiru Kumara.

England, chasing their first home Test series sweep since 2004, were 76-1 when bad light stopped play initially. Rain delayed the restart, but when play resumed, Duckett continued his attacking play before being dismissed with the score on 140-2.

Pope continued his strong performance, reaching his first Test hundred at The Oval with a square drive for four off Asitha Fernando. His innings included 13 boundaries and two sixes.

(With inputs from AFP)