Ben Foakes struck six boundaries during his unbeaten knock of 87

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Debutant Ben Foakes made his presence felt against Sri Lanka on the opening day of the first Test in Galle as he came to England’s rescue by scoring an unbeaten 87.

Opting to bat first, England got off to a rocky start as debutant Rory Burns was caught behind off the bowling of Suranga Lakmal for nine runs.

Moeen Ali was on his way back to the pavilion the very next ball as he was clean bowled by Lakmal for a golden duck.

England captain Joe Root and Keaton Jennings stabilised the innings with a 62-run partnership before Root, who made 35, was cleaned up by Rangana Herath, who is playing in his final Test match before he retiring from international cricket.

Jennings went on to score 46 before he was clean bowled by Dilruwan Perera, who also took out Ben Stokes for seven runs.

Foakes and Jos Buttler steadied things with a 61-run stand before Buttler was caught behind off the bowling of Dilruwan for 38.

Foakes and Sam Curran kept the runs flowing with an 88-run partnership, during which Foakes brought up his fifty, before Curran was caught by Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal at slip off the bowling of Akila Dananjaya for 48.

Foakes and Adil Rashid added 54 runs to the score before Rashid was removed by Dilruwan for 35.

The 25-year-old and Jack Leach managed to amass an unbeaten 15-run partnership before stumps was called.

Foakes finished on 87, which came off 184 balls and included six boundaries, while Leach remained undefeated on a 17-ball 14, which included two boundaries.

Dilruwan was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, while Lakmal took two, and Herath and Dananjaya claimed one wicket each.

England ended day one on 321/8 and will continue batting on Wednesday at 10:00 local time or 04:30 GMT.