Sri Lanka spinners thrived in favorable circumstances at dwelling to beat England by 19 runs Thursday within the opening sport of three-match ODI sequence.
With star spinner Wanindu Hasaranga rested, legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay (2-39) and leftarm spinner Dunith Wellalage (2-41) picked up key wickets on a conducive sluggish pitch to bowl out England for 252.
Earlier, No. 3 batter Kusal Mendis anchored Sri Lanka to 271-6 with an unbeaten 93 off 117 balls that included 11 boundaries.
England overcame the early lack of Zak Crawley, who made a disappointing return to 50-over format after greater than two years when he nicked Asitha Fernando behind wickets after scoring simply 6 runs in his comeback sport.
Ben Duckett (62) and Joe Root (61) managed a 117-run stand, however Sri Lanka didn’t enable the pair to attain freely with spinners discovering loads of grip on a sluggish wicket.
Vandersay broke the century stand when Duckett obtained tangled whereas going for a reverse sweep and was adjudged leg earlier than wicket. With the wicket helping sluggish bowlers, Sri Lanka deployed spinners from each ends.
The 2 back-up spinners Dhananjaya de Silva and captain Charith Asalanka shared 15 overs between them and each obtained the essential wickets. Root was trapped lbw by de Silva and captain Harry Brook (6) was stumped down the legside by Asalanka via some sharp glove work of Mendis.
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Wellalage then made additional inroads with two wickets in successive overs when he had Jacob Bethell stumped and took a pointy return catch of Sam Curran as England slipped to 165-6 within the fortieth over.
Jos Buttler (19) struggled to get momentum earlier than he was undone by quick bowler Pramod Madushan’s (3-39) slower ball. Rehan Ahmed (27) and Jamie Overton (34 off 17 balls) confirmed lot of aggression in opposition to tempo that gave England a glimmer of hope earlier than Vandersay obtained Ahmed caught at lengthy off and Overton was dismissed within the last over when England required 20 to win.
Earlier, Kamil Mishara (27) and Pathum Nissanka (21) supplied an honest begin of fifty runs earlier than each Sri Lankan openers perished in fast succession after Asalanka received the toss and elected to bat.
Mendis scored his first run off the thirteenth ball he confronted however gained confidence in opposition to spinners when he struck successive boundaries in opposition to Ahmed. De Silva, enjoying his first ODI since November 2023, struggled in opposition to spin earlier than he was lbw by Adil Rashid for 10 and Asalanka prime edged Ahmed after scoring 17.
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Mendis and Janith Liyanage (46) then revived the innings with an 88-run stand. Liyanage smashed two sixes and 5 fours earlier than providing a tame return catch to Rashid, who completed with 3-44.
Wellalage supplied a late flurry with an unbeaten 25 off 12 balls and largely farmed the strike within the last two overs as he smashed Overton for 3 fours and a six within the last over which finally went for 23.