CHESTER-LE-STREET: Joe Root celebrated his 150th One-day International appearance with an unbeaten half-century as England claimed a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in their series opener at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street on Tuesday.

Chasing a target of 186, England opener Jonny Bairstow made a fast start as England reached 50 inside five overs but soon lost his opening partner Liam Livingstone, who clipped a Chamika Karunaratne delivery straight to mid-on.

Bairstow fell seven runs short of a half-century after he was bowled by seamer Binura Fernando, and the hosts were soon reduced to 80-4 as Dushmantha Chameera removed skipper Eoin Morgan (6) and Sam Billings (3) cheaply.

Root and all-rounder Moeen Ali (28) stitched together a patient 91-run partnership to steady the ship.

Chameera returned to dismiss Ali but Root finished with an unbeaten 79, and along with Sam Curran, ensured there were no further hiccups as England clinched win in 35th over.

Chris Woakes led the English bowling attack with a four-wicket haul as a depleted Sri Lanka side were bowled out for 185 with 7.3 overs to spare.

Woakes, playing his first ODI in nine months, finished with an impressive 4-18 from his 10 overs as the tourists lost their final seven wickets for 40 runs.

“I’m delighted. The way the guys started and persisted the whole time we were in the field left us in a really good position,” Morgan said. “Full credit to our bowling unit today, it really did fire.”

Sri Lanka’s batsmen struggled during the previous 3-0 T20 series loss to England and it came as no surprise when they crumbled again in the middle overs.

The tourists arrived into the match without three seniors — Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dick­wella and Danushka Gunathilaka — who were all sent home following a breach of bio-bubble protocols.

Captain Kusal Perera scored a gritty 73 and shared a 99-run fourth-wicket stand with Wanindu Hasaranga.

It was player-of-the-match Woakes who ended the partnership and started the collapse with Hasaranga (54) holing out to Livingstone at deep mid-wicket off a short ball.

Left-arm paceman David Willey removed Perera on his way to 3-44, with the innings ending when Sam Billings ran out Praveen Jayawi­ckrama with a direct hit.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

P. Nissanka c Moeen b Woakes 5

M.D.K.J. Perera c Billings b Willey 73

K.I.C. Asalanka c Root b Willey 0

M.D. Shanaka c Bairstow b Woakes 1

W. Hasaranga c Livingstone b Woakes 54

P.A.D. Lakshan c Root b Woakes 2

W.R.T. Mendis lbw b Moeen 1

C. Karunaratne not out 19

B. Fernando c Moeen b Willey 2

P.V.D. Chameera run out 7

P. Jayawickrama run out 4

EXTRAS (LB-9, W-7, NB-1) 17

TOTAL (all out, 42.3 overs) 185

FALL OF WKTS: 1-23, 2-24, 3-46, 4-145, 5-149, 6-152, 7-152, 8-160, 9-170.

BOWLING: Woakes 10-5-18-4 (2w); Willey 10-1-44-3 (2w); Wood 7-0-19-0 (1w); Curran 7.3-0-45-0 (1nb, 1w); Adil Rashid 6-0-45-0 (1w); Moeen Ali 2-0-5-1.

ENGLAND:

J.M Bairstow b Fernando 43

L. Livingstone c C’meera b Karunaratne 9

J.E. Root not out 79

E.J.G. Morgan c Perera b Chameera 6

S.W. Billings c Hasaranga b Chameera 3

Moeen Ali b Chameera 28

S.M. Curran not out 9

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-5, NB-2) 12

TOTAL (for five wkts, 34.4 overs) 185

FALL OF WKTS: 1-54, 2-59, 3-74, 4-80, 5-171

DID NOT BAT: C.R. Woakes, D.J. Willey, Adil Rashid, M.A. Wood.

BOWLING: Chameera 8-0-50-3 (1w); Fernando 9.5-0-50-1 (1nb, 3w); Karunaratne 7-0-39-1 (1nb, 1w); Hasaranga 7-0-26-0; Lakshan 2-0-12-0; Jayawickrama 1-0-7-0.

RESULT: England won by five wickets.

UMPIRES: M.A. Gough (England) and R.T. Robinson (England).

TV UMPIRE: R.A. Kettleborough (England).

MATCH REFEREE: B.C. Broad (England).

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Chris Woakes.

SECOND MATCH: The Oval (D/N), Thursday (5:00pm PST).

THIRD MATCH: Bristol, Saturday (3:00pm PST).

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2021