England trailed Sri Lanka by 214 runs on day one of the first test after bad light stopped play on Wednesday at Old Trafford where the tourists' decision to bat first backfired when they were all out for 236.

Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss and opted to bat under cloudy skies but his side were three down for six runs after seven overs before he led their recovery efforts with a confident knock of 74 in the middle order.

England were 22 for no loss in four overs with Ben Duckett and Dan Lawrence at the crease. Sri Lanka, who were unable to get their fast bowlers to use the new ball in fading light, opted to walk off with a few minutes left until stumps.

"I think it's a good day. 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," said England's Chris Woakes, who took 3-32.

With a hard pitch offering assistance for England's seam attack in the first innings, Sri Lanka's openers were stifled early on as the bowlers dominated the opening session to reduce the visitors to 80-5 at lunch.

England, captained by Ollie Pope with Ben Stokes ruled out with a hamstring injury, were left frustrated when De Silva stitched together a valuable 63-run partnership with test debutant Milan Rathnayake, who came in at number nine. (Reuters)