On the opening day of the first Test, Chris Woakes scored three times while Ollie Pope made a fantastic start to his career as England captain. Sri Lanka was reduced to 178 for eight.

At the beginning of play, Woakes claimed a double-wicket maiden as the tourists collapsed to six for three in a disastrous half-hour, and he claimed another after lunch.

Mark Wood's quick pace brought him one, while Gus Atkinson and Shoaib Bashir each grabbed two wickets as the bowlers gave Pope the perfect start to his interim role as England's 82nd men's captain.

After losing their lone warm-up match against a young England Lions team and eight years since their last Test journey to these parts,

With skipper Dhananjaya De Silva, who batted bravely for 74 runs, they eventually found some resolution, but they are still much behind.

The day started with an emotional tribute to the late Graham Thorpe, Joe Root appearing close to tears as players and fans remembered the classy left-hander with a minute’s applause.

James Anderson, the record wicket-taker who recently retired, received another honor at his home stadium when he rang the five-minute bell.

After Pope lost his opening toss Anderson could not have performed much better than Atkinson and Woakes, but he would have enjoyed the opportunity to go over a fragile batting lineup on his home turf.

With a short ball to Dimuth Karunaratne, Atkinson found a kick and carry to get things started. The seasoned opener positioned himself to pull, but he missed the shot and let a straightforward.