Chris Woakes stars as England’s bowlers dominate first morning against Sri Lanka

The tourists struggled to 80 for five after opting to bat first at Emirates Old Trafford.

England’s Chris Woakes celebrates taking the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Nishan Madushka (Nick Potts/PA) (PA Wire)

Chris Woakes claimed a double wicket maiden as England’s bowlers kicked off their Test series against Sri Lanka with a dominant first morning in Manchester.

The tourists struggled to 80 for five after opting to bat first at Emirates Old Trafford, their batting line-up badly exposed in unfamiliar conditions.

On their first trip to these shores since 2016, and with just one three-day warm-up under their belts, Sri Lanka were caught cold.

At one stage they lost three wickets for no runs in the space of 10 deliveries, Gus Atkinson taking out experienced opener Dimuth Karunaratne before Woakes removed Nishan Maduskha and former skipper Angelo Mathews in the seventh over.

That left them in deep trouble on six for three and, after a brief fightback, Mark Wood and Shoaib Bashir both got in on the act.

The day started with an emotional tribute to Graham Thorpe, with a big screen video package in remembrance of the late left-hander. Several of the England team worked closely with Thorpe during his time as assistant coach and Joe Root appeared close to tears as he joined the crowd in a minute’s applause.

There was also an honour for James Anderson at his home ground, with the recently retired record wicket-taker ringing the five-minute bell. Anderson would surely have loved the chance to work over Sri Lanka on his own patch but he could hardly have done much better than Atkinson and Woakes with the new ball.

Atkinson got things going, finding kick and carry with a short ball to Karunaratne. He shaped to pull but was late on the shot and feathered a simple catch through to Jamie Smith.

Woakes made use of some early movement and reeled in Madushka with the first ball of the next over. Wafting irresponsibly at an outswinger, he fed Root at slip. Mathews was next for a five-ball duck, misreading a big inswinger to fall lbw offering no stroke.

Kusal Mendis brought some respite as he attacked the recalled Matthew Potts but the arrival of Wood, whose first ball clocked in at 95mph, ended his fun. Reeling away from a nasty delivery aimed in at the body, he gloved a looping catch to Harry Brook in the cordon.

Sri Lanka’s misery was compounded by a slice of misfortune before lunch, Dinesh Chandimal lbw to Bashir after the spinner got to skid through at ankle height.