Duckett gives Eng brisk start against SL

Hosts were 76-1 at lunch on the first day of the third Test

LONDON:

Ben Duckett made a rapid fifty to lead England to 76-1 at lunch on the first day of the third test against Sri Lanka at The Oval on Friday.

Put into bat under gloomy skies, England lost the early wicket of Dan Lawrence but Duckett made light of tricky batting conditions to reach his half-century from 48 balls before play was halted due to bad light.

Lawrence, on five, skied an ambitious pull off Lahiru Kumara and was caught by Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva, the opening trudging off disconsolately after another failure on his return to the side.

Duckett hit seven fours on his way to 51 not out with captain Ollie Pope, under pressure to make runs after a disappointing series with the bat, on 14 including a big six over backward square leg off Kumara.

England, 2-0 up in the series and bidding for their sixth test victory in a row, made one change to their team with left-arm fast bowler Josh Hull making his debut in place of Matthew Potts.

Sri Lanka recalled batsman Kusal Mendis for Nishan Madushka and seamer Vishwa Fernando was preferred to left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya.

Eng captain Buttler ruled out of Aus T20 series

England captain Jos Buttler has been ruled out of the upcoming Twenty20 series against Australia, with Phil Salt stepping up to lead the side.

The 33-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman has not played since the T20 World Cup in June because of a calf injury and a recent setback has extended his lay-off.

Salt, who deputised for Buttler at Manchester Originals in this season's Hundred tournament, will lead England for the first time in Southampton on September 11, before games in Cardiff and at Old Trafford.

England have been forced to juggle the captaincy in recent months across different formats.

Ollie Pope has taken charge of the Test team against Sri Lanka in the absence of skipper Ben Stokes, who suffered a torn hamstring.

Harry Brook has served as Pope's vice-captain and is expected to be named as captain for the one-day internationals against Australia should Buttler's absence continue.

The five-match ODI series starts at Trent Bridge on September 19.

England have tweaked their squads to cover for Buttler, adding Surrey all-rounder Jamie Overton to the T20 group and naming Jordan Cox as cover for the 50-over matches.