England started the Srilankan tour with a win in the rain spoiled game at P Sara Oval, Colombo. They beat Srilanka XI by 43 runs (D/L method). Batting first, Srilanka XI scored 287/9 in their 50 overs with Captain Chandimal top scoring with 77 off 85 balls. England chase powered by Root and Morgan’s 90s. The rain spoiled the game when England was at 215 in 35.2 overs with just two wickets down and eventually declared with the winner by D/L method.
Srilanka XI openers put a fifty runs partnership within the first ten overs. Dinesh Chandimal ( 77), Kamindu Mendis(61) and the quick 40 runs off 26 balls from Udana helped Srilanka board XI post a competitive total on board. Moeen Ali picked two wickets for England where Ben Stokes took two. Adil Rashid and Root took one wicket each. Chris Woakes didn’t have a good outing giving away 55 runs in six overs.
England openers couldn’t make the best use of the first practice game as Bairstow departed for just three runs and Roy contributed 27 runs to the total. Udana and Rajitha took one wicket each in the first ten overs. Captain Morgan and Root then played sensibly and formed an unbeaten partnership of 174 runs. Morgan scored 91 off 84 balls with three sixes and Root, 90 off 92 balls. None of the Srilankan XI bowlers made an impact in the game.
The rain stopped the game midway through England’s innings at 35.2 overs with 215 runs on the board. Two teams will meet again for the second one-day practice match at Colombo on 6th October 2018.
