Sri Lanka toil amidst the gloom at The Oval

Rex Clementine in London

Bad light allowed barely 15 overs of play before tea on the opening day of the third Test between Sri Lanka and England at The Oval on Friday.Skipper Dhananjaya de Silva won a third toss in a row and opted to bowl in overcast conditions, but Sri Lanka’s bowlers were poor erring in their line and not beating the bat enough.

Vishwa Fernando back in the side after being overlooked for the second Test due to poor form didn’t impress and was replaced by Lahiru Kumara after just two overs.

Kumara provided the breakthrough when Dan Lawrene tried to put him away to the boundary on the leg-side but the ball took the inside edge and ballooned up giving Pathum Nissanka enough time to settle down underneath the ball and complete the catch.

There was too much width given by Sri Lanka’s bowlers who didn’t make the new ball count. They did beat the outside edge of the bat a couple of times but did not put the ball sufficiently on the right spot to take the grip of the game.

Ben Duckett made most of the poor bowling racing his way to a half-century. He was unbeaten on 51 off 48 balls with seven fours when play was stopped due to bad light.

Milan Ratnayake was wayward as well with 25 runs being scored off his three overs.

There was plenty on offer for the bowlers and conditions were expected to be overcast throughout the day. The seamers had an opportunity to tighten the grip.

Play was suspended after 15 overs with England on 76 for one. England were expected to resume at 3:10 local time with flood lights in operation.

Sri Lanka made a huge call by leaving out spin bowler Prabath Jayasuriya from the playing eleven. Oval has always helped spin bowling and they will be struggling if the quicks do not give them regular breakthroughs.

Captain Dhananjaya de Silva is expected to play the lead spin bowler’s role with bit of support from Kamindu Mendis.

England handed Test debut to left-arm seamer Josh Hull. The tall Leicestershire fast bowler, just 20, has played a handful of First Class games. He has been drafted into the side more on promise than performance.