England v Sri Lanka: First men's cricket test match, rain delays start of day two – live

Key facts

Weather update It’s still November in Manchester. There won’t be a show until noon, and probably not until lunch.

Taha Hashim talks about Graham Thorpe

For the current England team, he was not just a name from the past to emulate, but someone who was perched in their dressing room until a few years ago, dispensing coaching advice. Ian Ward, Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain, his former colleagues, were on the field that morning as part of Sky’s coverage, remembering both the cricketer and the man. When Hussain departed Lord’s with a century and the winning runs against New Zealand in his final Test, Thorpe was by his side. He was there with Hussain in the victory in Karachi, when they scored 288 against Australia at Edgbaston, when they were boys becoming men at Trent Bridge in 1993. And he was there in the tough times too.

Shoaib Bashir: I am a cricketer

Shoaib Bashir chats with Nasser Hussain, and he’s as impressive with his mouth as he is with the ball

It was a pretty positive day. We did well to take 10 wickets, especially when the ball got soft. There was some up and down bounce which helped me a lot. I didn’t expect to bowl 23 overs on the first day, but I really enjoyed it.

I thought the LBW and short leg catch were in there. It helps when you’re trying to set up a batsman if some balls are spinning and some are going straight. You have to spin the ball to get the drift; when I was younger I didn’t put as much effort into the ball.

(On dragging Dhananjaya’s leg) It was a mix of Popey’s idea and mine. I saw the ball drifting a lot, so I wanted to throw straighter, and luckily I got the reward.

I like watching the different spinners in the world. I love cricket; sometimes people call me the badger. I watch Nathan Lyon quite often. I like the way he passes the ball and his consistency.

Growing up I watched a lot of Ashwin and Lyon, as well as Swanny in the UK. I was lucky enough to work with him at the Lions.

(On Chandimal’s grubber) Yeah, that was part of the plan! That was weird. I didn’t expect that to happen.

It’s raining so the pitch won’t be exposed to much sun, so I think it will be similar to the first innings: it will turn and bounce more with the new ball. But you never know, cracks could appear.

I really want to work on my shot. I want to be able to contribute, even at No. 11. We saw their No. 9 score 70 points yesterday, which is huge. I really want to bring value.

Chris Woakes talks about his winter plans

As you get older, the more Test cricket you play, the more skills you learn, the more experience you have to draw on and you’re a bit wiser. It’s also maybe a good thing that I haven’t played an away Test for a while. It gives you a fresh perspective on things.

Delayed start

The covers are ready and the scene at Old Trafford is November. “My pitch is not at its best this morning at all…” laughs Mike Atherton on Sky.

Read Simon Burnton on Captain Pope

The common criticism of Pope’s game is that he is too frantic at the start of an innings, but eventually calms down. It turns out that he is captain in exactly the same way, although it took him a while to calm down.

“Lawrence, always entertaining…”

“With Lawrence back on this morning, there’s a good chance Aggers will say ‘Lawrence, always entertaining’ in homage to his former commentary partner’s fit of laughter,” writes Oliver Haill. “Let’s hope Lawrence (Dan) emulates his namesake Syd and hits a four over the wicketkeeper’s head too.”

Oliver, stop.

Preamble

The rain has just started to fall in Manchester. Fortunately, the forecast is better from midday onwards, so we should see plenty of cricket. England will resume on 22 for 0, a deficit of 214 after an interesting first day at Old Trafford.

Sri Lanka’s last three wickets more than doubled their score, thanks mainly to a surprisingly accomplished 76 from debutant Milan Rathnayeke. He looks like a number 9 in name and a number 7 in nature. His work is far from done, mind you. Sri Lanka need Rathnayeke and the two Fernandos, Vishwa and Asitha, to exploit the Manchester clouds and expose England’s long tail as soon as possible. This should be great fun!