England was behind Sri Lanka by 214 runs at the end of day one in the first Test, as play was halted due to poor lighting conditions at Old Trafford. The tourists' decision to bat first proved unfavorable, as they were all out for 236. Sri Lanka's captain, Dhananjaya de Silva, won the toss and chose to bat under overcast skies, but his team was struggling at 6 runs for three wickets after seven overs. De Silva then steadied the innings with a composed 74 in the middle order. Meanwhile, England had a solid start with 22 runs and no losses after four overs, with Ben Duckett and Dan Lawrence at the crease. Sri Lanka chose to leave the field a few minutes before stumps due to the diminishing light, which prevented their fast bowlers from using the new ball effectively.
Chris Woakes, who took 3-32, expressed satisfaction with the day's play, stating, "When you bowl on day one on a test surface like that, to be batting at the end of the day I think you're really happy." The pitch provided good assistance for England's seam attack, stifling Sri Lanka's openers and reducing them to 80-5 at lunch. Despite the mounting pressure, De Silva offered significant resistance, scoring nearly a run a ball at one point. England, led by Ollie Pope due to Ben Stokes' hamstring injury, was frustrated by De Silva's crucial 63-run partnership with Test debutant Milan Rathnayake. De Silva was eventually out just before tea, caught at leg slip off Shoaib Bashir's bowling.
The deteriorating light in the final session compelled England to rely solely on their spinners, with Joe Root also joining the attack under the floodlights. Rathnayake continued to trouble England's bowlers, scoring a well-crafted 72 off 135 balls before being caught at mid-on by Bashir again. Sri Lanka's innings concluded when Vishwa Fernando was run out by Pope after hesitating halfway down the pitch. Woakes reflected, "It would have been nice to bowl them out earlier than what they got, but with the bad light we couldn't bring our quick guys on to mop up the tail." He added, "We wanted to stay out there and feel we could bowl them out. Thankfully, we did in the end. It could have been for 30 less than they got but still really happy."
In the early session, Dimuth Karunaratne was dismissed after swiping at a rising delivery from Gus Atkinson, resulting in a top edge caught by wicketkeeper Jamie Smith. Woakes then struck twice in the next over, first catching Nishan Madushka's nicked drive at first slip and then trapping Angelo Mathews leg-before for a duck. Kusal Mendis was struck on the thumb by a 93mph rising ball from Mark Wood, which then flew to Harry Brook at slip, while Dinesh Chandimal was out lbw to Bashir. Before the play commenced, there was a tribute to former England batsman and coach Graham Thorpe, who passed away this month at the age of 55.
