THE Somerset spin twins were back in tandem as England dismissed Sri Lanka for a paltry 135 on day one of the first Test in Galle.

The hosts' first innings lasted only 46.1 overs as Dom Bess helped himself to a somewhat fortunate five-fer, and Jack Leach contributed one wicket and one run-out.

This was the first time that Bess (who departed Somerset for Yorkshire at the end of the 2020 season) and Leach (who is very much staying in Taunton) had been selected together for England, but initially it was the quality of seamer Stuart Broad which caused problems.

Having opted to bat first, Sri Lanka slipped to 16-2 as Broad (3-20) removed Lahirua Thirimanne and Kusal Mendis in his fourth over.

England then turned to spin in the form of Bess, and the off-spinner needed just two balls to open his account, as Kusal Perera mistimed a reverse sweep and Joe Root took a simple catch.

Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal steadied the ship with an unbroken stand of 40 before the lunch break, but only with the help of some poor fielding from debutant Dan Lawrence, who put down a simple chance at cover from Chandimal, denying Leach his first wicket.

Thankfully for Leach he did not have to wait too long after lunch, following on from Broad's dismissal of Mathews, as he finally got his man - the slow left-armer tossed the ball up, inviting the drive, and Chandimal picked out Sam Curran, who did not make Lawrence's mistake.

That left Sri Lanka on 81-5, and it was 105-6 when Bess was reintroduced and instantly bagged a second soft wicket.

He started with a genuine loosener, far too short and invitingly wide, but Niroshan Dickwella inexplicably got underneath the bounce and carved it straight to Dom Sibley at point.

Bess declined to celebrate, settling instead for a disbelieving chuckle as the Sri Lankan collapse continued.

Luck was on the Devonian spinner's side again when Dasun Shanaka middled a sweep that might easily have raced away for four, only for the ball to smash into Jonny Bairstow's ankle at short-leg, billowing up off his back and nestling gently into Jos Buttler's gloves.

Suddenly the home side were on 126-7, and Bess had 3-30 having barely bowled a dangerous delivery.

He changed that two balls later, drifting one through the air and turning it inside a yawning gap between bat and pad, as Dilruwan Perera joined the procession of wickets.

It was Leach's turn to benefit from good fortune as Sri Lanka went nine down - Lasith Embuldeniya losing his wicket backing up at the non-striker's end.

Waninndu Hasaranga clattered the Somerset man straight back down the ground, only for the spinner to push out a hand and get a finger end to the ball before it parted the stumps.

The end came soon after, as Wanindu Hasaranga stepped well outside off stump in an attempt to reverse sweep against the spin.

Instead he overbalanced and could only watch on as the ball nipped past him to part middle and leg, giving Bess his five-fer.

It was a bizarre end to a bizarre innings, with Bess (returning a career best of 5-30 off 10.1 overs) outbowled by his former club-mate Leach (1-55 off 17) but picking up four more wickets as Sri Lanka's batting attack fell apart at the seams.

England ended the day on 127-2, thanks to a century partnership between Bairstow and Root.

Embuldeniya (2-55) dismissed Sibley and Zak Crawley to leave the tourists on 17-2, but Bairstow (47*) and Root (66*) have taken them just eight points behind the Sri Lanka total with eight wickets in hand.