Sri Lanka fights back to reach 178-8 at tea on Day 1 of the opening cricket test against England

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva hit 74 to help his team fight back from a perilous position and reach tea at 178-8 on Day 1 of the first test against England.

With the tourists struggling on 113-7, De Silva put on an eighth-wicket partnership of 63 with test debutant Milan Rathnayake before getting dismissed just before the interval.

That was one of three Sri Lankan wickets to fall in the second session, along with Kamindu Mendis (12) and Prabath Jayasuriya (10).

Sri Lanka has fought back from being 6-3 after seven overs and looks set to post a respectable first-innings total after winning the toss at Old Trafford and choosing to bat first on a dry, hard pitch.

De Silva hit eight fours in his 84-ball knock, which marked his 14th test half-century. He eventually edged to leg slip to give Shoaib Bashir (2-31) his second wicket.

Chris Woakes removed Mendis and has 3-32 off 11 overs.

England was coming off a 3-0 series win over West Indies and was without captain Ben Stokes because of a torn hamstring sustained in a domestic game this month. Ollie Pope was filling in as captain and Dan Lawrence was deputizing as opener for Zak Crawley, who broke a finger in the West Indies series.

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