Sri Lanka clinched a close contest in the first ODI in Colombo, beating England by 19 runs. Kusal Mendis (93*) and Janith Liyanage (46) took the hosts to 271 for 6 before they bowled out England for 252 in the chase. Ben Duckett (62) and Joe Root (61) set the platform but the Sri Lankan spinners stifled the visitors before Rehan Ahmed and Jamie Overton played some cameos but ultimately fell short.

The hosts elected to bat first, and openers Pathum Nissanka and Kamil Mishara put on a 50-run opening stand. The former fell to Sam Curran and four runs later, Mishara fell for 27, bowled by Adil Rashid in the 14th over, the bowler's second over. Kusal was aggressive from the get-go. He climbed into Rehan for a couple of boundaries and the hosts attempted to counter-attack. Along with Dhananjaya de Silva, they found the boundary every over barring the 19th.

Liam Dawson bowled a maiden and the pressure told from the other end as Rashid trapped de Silva LBW. Charith Asalanka survived two loud LBW appeals in his first three balls in the same over. Asalanka broke free with consecutive boundaries off Overton but fell in an unfortunate manner in the next over. A tossed up delivery by Rehan was swept by Asalanka onto his helmet which lobbed up in the air and was taken by Harry Brook at leg-slip to take the hosts to 124 for 4. Kusal brought up his 50 off 61 balls with successive boundaries on the offside off the leggie. Kusal and new batter, Liyanage, scored only 18 runs from the 30th to the 35th over but broke the shackles with a four and a six off Jacob Bethell. He carved a boundary as he continued to step on the gas.

Liyanage continued to be positive with 10 runs coming off the 38th over. He brought up Sri Lanka's 200 in style with a maximum and moved into the 40s but fell to a return catch held on to by Rashid on 46. It brought the 88-run stand to an end. Overs 44 to 46 yielded only 16 runs as England aimed to restrict the hosts to a score of 250. But two of Overton's overs went for 33 in total, with the last one going for 23 runs itself. Dunith Wellalage hit three fours and a six to take Sri Lanka to 271 for 6, while Kusal remained undefeated on 93.

In the chase, Sri Lanka began with a maiden off Asitha Fernando. The bowler was then rewarded with the wicket of Zak Crawley. Duckett and Root then got together and stabilised the innings. They found the boundaries regularly and ran hard to inflict pressure back on the hosts. Duckett hit couple of boundaries off Asalanka as the quartet of Sri Lankan spinners operated in tandem. England scored only 15 runs from overs 20 to 24 as the hosts levied the pressure. But it came undone as Duckett swept Jeffrey Vandersay for a boundary. Root and Duckett brought up their fifties in succession.

Duckett hoisted Vandersay into the stands but the legspinner ended the southpaw's innings by trapping him on the pads, ending the 117-run union. The runs dried up once again after the wicket as England couldn't break the flow of dot balls from the spinners. It came unstuck when Root was trapped on the pads off de Silva as Sri Lanka managed to leave the door ajar. Bethell brought up the 150 for England but captain picked captain as Asalanka had Brook stumped. Wellalage had Bethell stumped after he too danced down the track and missed the ball. Wellalage had Curran dismissed for five as England began to crumble.

Rehan hit three fours in an over and five overall as he got the equation to 72 off the last six overs. He fell to Vandersay in the 44th over while Pramod Madhushan picked up two in an over to leave England nine wickets down. Overton then smashed four boundaries and two sixes to keep England in the hunt. But with 20 needed off the last over, he miscued a full-toss to Wellalage at cover as Sri Lanka sealed victory.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 271/6 in 50 overs (Kusal Mendis 93*, Jayanith Liyanage 46; Adil Rashid 3-44, Liam Dawson 1-31) beat England 252 in 49.2 overs (Ben Duckett 62, Joe Root 61; Pramod Madhushan 3-39, Jeffrey Vandersay 2-39) by 19 runs