Old Trafford Manchester Pitch Report For England Vs Sri Lanka 1st Test

Old Trafford Manchester (X.com)Old Trafford Manchester (X.com)

The much-awaited Sri Lanka Tour of England will witness the first Test take place between England and Sri Lanka at the Old Trafford in Manchester on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, for the hosts, their skipper Ben Stokes suffered a hamstring injury while featuring in the Hundred for the Northern Superchargers. In his absence, Ollie Pope will take over the captaincy of the Three Lions with Harry Brook as the vice-captain. 

Meanwhile, England have named four seamers in their lineup along with Shoaib Bashir as their only spinner. Moreover, since Zak Crawley has also been ruled out due to an injury, Dan Lawrence will open alongside Ben Duckett in all likeliness.

Coming from a series win against West Indies, England would look to continue their winning momentum and jump up in the  World Test Championship (WTC) points table where they are currently at the sixth spot.

On the other hand, Dhananjaya de Silva led Sri Lanka won 2-0 against Bangladesh in March-April 2024. Since then, the two significant changes from their last Test squad is that Lahiru Udara and Chamika Gunasekara have been left out.

Their squad has six pacers along with two spinners. It would be interesting to see how they use them to their advantage.

As the two teams prepare to meet one another, let's take a look at the pitch for this clash:

ENG vs SL 1st Test Pitch Report

The surface at Old Trafford Manchester will provide assistance to seamers in the very first hour of all five days. The pitch is like that of a subcontinent where if the batters spend adequate time on the first two days, they will most likely be able to score good runs, setting the stage for potentially high scores. 

The wicket is expected to wear off from the third day, and the spinner might come in handy towards the end of the game. As it is towards the late of English summer, the wicket might be a tad drier bring the spinners into the game even more.

If this happens, then both England and Sri Lanka's decision to go heavy duty with pacers will be beneficial. 

It would be interesting to see, for instance, if England's pacers exploit the early seam movement, or if Sri Lanka's bowlers use the wearing pitch to generate turn and bounce. How the two teams use the pitch to their advantage will be a key factor in the game.