Sri Lanka survive Overton scare to beat England

Sri Lanka overcame Jamie Overton's late assault to beat England by 19 runs in the opening one-day international in Colombo on Thursday.

Electing to bat, Sri Lanka posted a commanding 271-6 with Kusal Mendis leading their charge with an unbeaten 93.

England, with several players still smarting from their 4-1 Ashes hammering in Australia, were bowled out for 252 in 49.2 overs at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

Overton belted 34 off 17 balls but could not take England across the line.

Earlier, Sri Lanka got off to a decent start after Pathum Nissanka and Kamil Mishara combined in an opening stand of 50.

Sam Curran removed Nissanka for 21 to break the stand and Adil Rashid (3-44) bowled Mishara round the legs before Mendis anchored Sri Lanka's innings.

Janith Liyanage provided a quick 46 before Dunith Wellalage produced an unbeaten cameo of 25 off 12 balls to power the hosts to a strong total.

England's spin quartet of Rashid, Rehan Ahmed, Liam Dawson and Jacob Bethell bowled a combined 33 overs between them.

The visitors lost Zak Crawley for six in the third over of the innings before Ben Duckett (62) and Joe Root (61) revived their chase with a stand of 117.

England were cruising at 129-1 in 27 overs before collapsing.

Jeffrey Vandersay dismissed Duckett before Dhananjaya de Silva dealt a bigger blow when he trapped Root lbw after successfully reviewing the original not-out decision.

Pramod Madushan bowled Jos Buttler for 19 but Overton refused to throw in the towel.

England's number nine hit two sixes and four fours before being undone by a Madushan full toss.

The second ODI of the three-match series is scheduled for Saturday.