Sri Lanka vs. England, 1st ODI, 2014: Highlights, Scorecard and Report

Sri Lanka won an eventful thriller in the first one-day international of the seven-match series against England, holding their nerve in the face of some brilliance from Moeen Ali and Ravi Bopara to win by 25 runs.

Sri Lanka were sent in to bat first by England after a wet start to the morning in Colombo appeared to threaten the contest.

They made light of the conditions and breezed to 317-6 from their 50 overs, an imposing total which looked out of their visitors' reach.

England's top order struggled—aside from Moeen, that is—whose innings stole the show, and Bopara, who kept faint hopes alive until England were all out for 292.

The decision to bowl first was taken by Alastair Cook, who hoped the rain would freshen the pitch up for his seam attack. But any early encouragement was dispelled quickly by a measured start from the opening pair of Kusal Perera and Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Batsman	Dismissal	Bowler	Runs	Mins	Balls
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Dilshan	c and b Woakes		88	157	98
K Perera	run out (Root)		59	90	74
Sangakkara	lbw	b Moeen	2	5	4
M Jayawardene	c Buttler	b Tredwell	55	87	58
Mathews	c Stokes	b Tredwell	33	22	24
T Perera	c Cook	b Woakes	4	11	6
Thirimanne	not out		27	32	22
J Mendis	not out		30	22	14
Extras	0nb 17w 0b 2lb	19
Total	for 6 (50.0 ovs)		317
Woakes	10.0	0	68	2
Gurney	10.0	0	66	0
Tredwell	10.0	0	52	2
Stokes	4.0	0	36	0
Moeen	10.0	0	66	1
Root	2.0	0	12	0
Bopara	4.0	0	15	0

With Chris Jordan discarded as out of form, and Steven Finn injured, the new ball responsibilities fell to Chris Woakes and Harry Gurney—neither made an impression.

Spin too was manoeuvred around with ease as James Tredwell and Moeen struggled to make a great impression, and with 120 on the board in good time, it looked like Sri Lanka were on their way to a sizeable score.

It took a moment of fortune to bring England back into the contest, with a running mix-up seeing Perera at the wrong end and run out with ease.

When Kumar Sangakkara went, victim of a turning ball from Moeen, and wasting the team's review in the process, things looked better for the tourists, but Mahela Jayawardene settled and a partnership worth 125 runs then formed.

England, to a certain extent, must have felt they had controlled the onslaught when Angelo Mathews holed out after a 24-ball 33. With Jayawardene (55) and Dilshan (88) back in the shed too, the lower order had to rebuild.  

"

4 - Tillakaratne Dilshan (15,646) has passed Aravinda de Silva to become @OfficialSLC's fourth highest international run-scorer. Elite.

— OptaJim (@OptaJim) November 26, 2014"

But they did once again, with Jeevan Mendis' nimble cameo easing the islanders past 300.

That is a mark that England have only scored five times in ODI chases—winning just two of those—and they were not fancied to do it again.

"

Fact is that England have scored over 300 chasing only 5 times and have only won 2 of those. Can't see that number changing

— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek) November 26, 2014"

Batsman	Dismissal	Bowler	Runs	Mins	Balls
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Cook	lbw	b Dilshan	10	32	17
Moeen	c and b J Mendis		119	140	87
Bell	c M Jayawardene	b T Perera	35	36	35
Root	c Sangakkara	b T Perera	2	8	8
Morgan		b A Mendis	1	6	3
Buttler		b Prasad	21	19	21
Bopara	c K Perera	b T Perera	65	102	62
Stokes	st Sangakkara	b Herath	16	29	27
Woakes	st Sangakkara	b Herath	7	14	11
Tredwell		b A Mendis	6	16	11
Gurney	not out		1	6	2
Extras	1nb 8w 0b 0lb		9
Total	all out (47.1 ovs)		292
Mathews	3.0	1	17	0
Prasad	5.0	0	51	1
Dilshan	6.0	0	33	1
A Mendis	9.0	0	55	2
Herath	9.0	0	58	2
T Perera	9.1	1	44	3
J Mendis	6.0	0	34	1

But after a bizarre first over in which Cook was given out lbw to successive balls—only to be reprieved by HawkEye on both occasions—Moeen kicked into gear.

His innings was languid, fluent, aggressive—things almost antithetical to a standard England ODI opener's approach. He eased to 50 in just 25 deliveries, then clubbed successive sixes against the spin to glide to his best score in the format.

At the other end, things were going less well. Cook's luck ran out on 10 after being trapped by Dilshan's off-spin, and a breezy Ian Bell cameo of 35 in as many balls ended with a tame edge to slip.

Joe Root lasted eight balls, Eoin Morgan just three, as the innings stuttered. It made Moeen's continued excellence all the more impressive, and his march to his century more thrilling.

"

Got to hand it to Moeen Ali—that century was magnificent. Moeen: 100-0 (72 balls) Rest of England: 78-5 (90 balls)

— Mark Patterson (@MarkPattersonBR) November 26, 2014"

But when he offered a return catch to Mendis on 119, the game looked up for England.

There was still some batting in hand—Ben Stokes was the man who joined Ravi Bopara in the middle—but the required run rate was creeping up and the task growing taller.

Stokes struggled to 16 from 27 balls until he was stumped trying to attack Rangana Herath's spin—the same fate befell Chris Woakes, who got a jaffa of a delivery from the left-armer.

Bopara, however, kept the fight alive, crunching two maximums as he moved on to a half-century—and a Perera beamer helped away for four meant the equation was 32 runs to win from 24 balls, with two wickets in hand.

Tredwell fell to Mendis, leaving only Gurney for company. 

Bopara went for a final heave, but fell to a remarkable catch from Kusal Perera to win the game.

"

Outstanding catch finally removes @ravibopara Sri Lanka win by 25 runs to lead 1-0 in ODI series! http://t.co/8mCvr4BfH7 #SLvENG

— BetVictor (@BetVictor) November 26, 2014"