England vs. Sri Lanka, 1st One Day International Scorecard, Report

England enjoyed an 81-run victory against Sri Lanka in the first One Day International of their summer series at The Oval.

A initial rain delay saw England's innings cut to 39 overs, and conditions intervened again to reduce Sri Lanka's reply to 32 overs and adjust the total they were chasing using the DL method.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field, putting England into bat as the rain clouds loomed in London.

Captain Alastair Cook went for 11, but a fine partnership followed between Ian Bell and Gary Ballance as England put on 79 for their second wicket.

Bell fell just after reaching his half-century, while Ballance went on to make 64 from 72 balls—including five fours and a six.

Tom Shaw/Getty Images

Joe Root also played his part for England, scoring 45 from 41 balls after coming in at No. 5. Jos Buttler and Chris Jordan saw things out for the home side, scoring 28 not out and 36 not out respectively to steer England to 247-6 from their rain-reduced allotment of 39 overs.

Batsman			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Cook	c Sangakkara	b N Kulasekara	11	21	23	1	0
Bell	c Malinga	b Mathews	50	88	56	4	1
Ballance	c Chandimal	b Senanayake	64	89	72	5	1
Morgan		b Senanayake	3		3	0	0
Root	lbw	b N Kulasekara	45	55	41	2	1
Bopara	lbw	b Senanayake	3	6	6	0	0
Buttler	not out		26	38	20	1	1
Jordan	not out		38	17	13	5	2
Extras	0nb 5w 1b 1lb	7
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Malinga	8.0	0	71	0
N Kulasekara	8.0	1	60	2
Lakmal	6.0	0	34	0
T Perera	3.0	0	25	0
Mathews	6.0	0	25	1
Senanayake	8.0	0	30	3

Sachithra Senanayake was the star of the Sri Lanka bowling attack, keeping things extremely tight and taking 3-30 from his eight overs.

Sri Lanka's reply did not begin well. Lahiru Thirimanne was trapped LBW by James Anderson in the opening over and Kumar Sangakkara went soon after, a victim of Harry Gurney.

Chris Jordan and James Tredwell then helped themselves to three wickets apiece as England ripped through the Sri Lankan middle order and kept the tourists on the back foot.

Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan both reached the 30s, but neither could go on to produce the kind of innings Sri Lanka needed to anchor their chase.

Batsman			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Thirimanne	lbw	b Anderson	0	3	5	0	0
Dilshan	c Gurney	b Jordan	33	61	40	5	0
Sangakkara		b Gurney	8	19	13	2	0
M Jayawardene	c Morgan	b Tredwell	35	52	41	4	0
Mathews	c Cook	b Tredwell	18	35	21	2	0
Chandimal	c Buttler	b Jordan	8	11	8	1	0
N Kulasekara	c Buttler	b Jordan	0	2	3	0	0
T Perera	c Root	b Tredwell	2	9	6	0	0
Senanayake	c Bell	b Gurney	11	21	11	1	0
Malinga		b Bopara	10	20	16	1	0
Lakmal	not out		4	4	5	0	0
Extras	2nb 6w 5b 2lb	15
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Anderson	5.0	1	22	1
Gurney	5.0	0	20	2
Jordan	6.0	0	25	3
Root	1.0	0	7	0
Bopara	4.5	0	25	1
Tredwell	6.0	0	38	3

Ultimately it was a comfortable win for England. Sri Lanka finished 81 runs short on their chase and never looked like making it happen.

The second match in this five-game ODI series takes place on May 25 at Chester-le-Street.