Root, Woakes guide England to easy win

Kusal Perera and Wanindu Hasaranga added 99 runs for the fourth wicket.

Joe Root scored unbeaten 79 runs to steer England to an easy five wickets win over Sri Lanka after the visitors collapsed to below par 185 runs in the first ODI at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday.

England reached the target with 14 overs to spare.

Put to bat Sri Lanka collapsed either side of a 99-run partnership between Kusal Perera and Wanindu Hasaranga to be bowled out for 185 runs.

They lost their first three wickets for 46 runs, and their last seven for 40.

England were largely disciplined with the ball, Chris Woakes and David Willey extracting early movement to remove the inexperienced men in Sri Lanka’s top order, some of whom were batting out of position. Later, when the one decent partnership was broken, the hosts were sloppy in the field, but it hardly mattered – they were being flung chances every over by an overawed opposition running in a manic fashion, playing low-percentage shots. Sri Lanka were all out in the 43rd over.

With Sri Lanka ranked ninth on the ODI rankings, this was already looking like a mismatch, before they lost six of their players. Bubble-popping trio Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis were already in Sri Lanka before this match began, having been flown back in economy class for their sins. Avishka Fernando and Dhananjaya de Silva, meanwhile, were out through injury, and Oshada Fernando was unavailable due to illness.

This left Sri Lanka with little choice but to field a slew of inexperienced players. Three – allrounders Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya Lakshan, plus left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama – were on ODI debut. Three others – Binura Fernando, Ramesh Mendis and Chamika Karunaratne – had played only one ODI. On top of which Pathum Nissanka was playing his seventh match. In fact, across the XI, Sri Lanka only has 195 caps – 105 of them belonging to captain Perera. Eoin Morgan was playing his 244th game.

Woakes’ new-ball bowling would have troubled even much better opposition, however. He rarely strayed from the channel, finding movement both in the air and off the surface, and nicked off Nissanka in the fifth over. Four overs later he bowled the delivery of the innings when he angled a ball in from over the wicket, then moved it away off the seam to take the edge of Dasun Shanaka. At the other end, Willey had had debutant Asalanka caught at slip for a duck.

While Perera and Hasaranga were at the crease, however, there was mild hope that Sri Lanka might muster a somewhat creditable total. Hasaranga in particular had been tested by the quick bowlers, but gritted his way through that period, until he felt confident enough to attack the legspin of Adil Rashid, which he slogged for four fours and a six, most of those boundaries coming in the arc between midwicket and cover.

Perera was easily the most competent batsman on show, cutting and driving the seam bowlers confidently, and rotating the strike well, to get to his fifty off 46 balls in the 20th over. Had Hasaranga hung around, instead of being bounced out by Woakes for 54 off 61, Perera might have pushed methodically towards a hundred. Instead, he holed out to deep square leg four overs after Hasaranga departed.

The collapse that followed was part comedy, part horror – Karunaratne in particular failing to respond to his partners, to get himself into awful situations. England’s inability to capitalise on these chances allowed him to survive briefly, but wickets continued to fall to the seamers, and two run outs closed out the innings.

Woakes was the best of England’s bowlers and took 4 for 18 from his 10. Willey took 3 for 44 in his 50th ODI. Moeen Ali was the only other bowler among the wickets, claiming the lbw of Mendis.

Brief Scores:

Sri Lanka 185 in 42.3 overs (Kusal Perera 73, Wanindu Hasaranga 54, Chamika Karunaratne 19; Chris Woakes 4/18, David Willey 3/44)

England 189 for 5 in 34.5 overs (Jonny Bairstow 43, Joe Root 79n.o., Moeen Ali 28; Dushmantha Chameera 3/50)