England lost Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope and the well-set Ben Duckett cheaply to post 97-3 at lunch on day one, with Joe Root (29) and Harry Brook (9) at the crease, as reported by Reuters.

Dhananjaya de Silva’s decision to gamble on early swing under glorious sunshine seemed like a risk, even as opening bowlers Asitha Fernando and Milan Rathnayake found some movement.

And when Duckett hit three boundaries in Fernando s second over, De Silva – who opted to bat at Old Trafford last week, only to see his side fall to 6-3 – may have had second thoughts.

It was seam though that brought the first wicket when Lawrence (9) played at a wide ball from Lahiru Kumara that nipped away and caught the edge to keeper Nishan Madushka.

England’s stand-in captain Pope (1) then threw his wicket away, top-edging a swipe off Fernando high into the air to give De Silva a simple catch and leave the hosts on 42-2.

Duckett scored at nearly a run a ball throughout and Root clipped his first delivery for four, before the impressive Kumara beat Root s outside edge and then rapped him on the pad, with a review for lbw turned down on umpire’s call.

England, who won the first test of the three-match series by five wickets, appeared comfortable until Duckett (40) mis-hit a reverse sweep in spinner Prabath Jayasuriya s first over to Kumara at deep point.