Stand-in captain Ollie Pope put his recent woes behind him with a magnificent century as England cruised to 221-3 on day one of the third Test versus Sri Lanka at The Oval.

Pope had overseen back-to-back victories at Old Trafford and Lord's in Ben Stokes' absence but had struggled with his own form, failing to score more than 17 runs in any of his four innings in the series to date.

Things turned around for him on Friday, though, as he helped the hosts build a handsome lead with six wickets still in hand ahead of day two.

England were initially frustrated by bad light during the morning session, with a delay of almost three hours ensuing after Ben Duckett helped the hosts to 80-1 following the early loss of Dan Lawrence (5).

Duckett counted nine fours and two sixes among his 86 runs off 79 balls before he scooped Milan Rathnayake's slow delivery into the waiting hands of Dinesh Chandimal.

Joe Root then struggled to match Duckett's pace and he walked for 13 off 48 balls when he sliced Lahiru Kumara's delivery straight to Asitha Fernando in the deep.

However, Pope took the reins from there and put his poor recent form behind him with a speedy ton off 102 balls, with bad light stopping play for the final time immediately after he brought up three figures with a four, much to the frustration of the home fans.

Pope (102 not out) and Harry Brook (8 not out) will resume at the crease on Saturday, as England target a 3-0 series whitewash and a perfect Test summer.

Data Debrief: Pope's redemption

Figures of 6, 6, 17 and 1 through his four innings with the bat had somewhat sullied Pope's experience of captaining England in this series, but the stand-in skipper had a far more positive experience on Friday.

He put recent criticism of his performances to one side with an assured knock, hitting 13 fours and two maximums to ensure England made the most of limited play.

It is his seventh Test century overall, and his third of 2024 after knocks of 121 versus West Indies in July and 196 in India in January. Only eight England batters have accomplished that feat, and Pope is the first to do so since Gary Ballance in 2014.