Earlier, Graeme Hick struck a powerful 86 from 97 balls as England scored 247. On an excellent batting surface and in perfect, sunny conditions the home side appeared to be heading for an even better score when they reached 132 for two at the halfway point and then 223 for three with seven overs remaining.

SCOREBOARD

England: N Knight c Atapattu b Wickramasinghe 17, A Brown c Atapattu b Wickramasinghe 12, A Stewart b Jayasuriya 51, G Hick run out (Atapattu) 86, N Husaain b Dharmasena 39, A Hollioake b Jayasuriya 3, R Croft c Kaluwitharana b Perera 3, I Austin b Jayasuriya 8, P Martin run out (Kaluwitharana) 3, D Gough not out 1, A Mullally b Perera 1. Extras (lb-10, w-12, nb-1): 23. Total (all out, 49.3 overs) 247.

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-56, 3-132, 4-223, 5-224, 6-228 7-233,8-241, 9-244.

Bowling: wickramasinghe 7-1-34-2, Perera 9.3-0-48-2, Hathurusinghe 3-0-23-0, Dharmasena 10-0-54-1, Muralitharan 10-0-42-0, Jayasuriya 10-0-36-3.

Sri Lanka: S Jayasuriya c Knight b Gough 11, Romesh Kaluwitharana c Stewart b Martin 2, M Atapattu lbw Gough 6, A de Silva lbw Austin 33, R Arnold b Mullally 3, A Ranatunga b Croft 33, C Hathurusingha c Stewart b Mullally 7, K Dharmasena not out 33, S Perera c Brown b Hollioake 17, P Wickramasinghe b Gough 18, M Muralidharan b Austin 18. Extras (1b, 13lb, 10w, 6nb) 30.

Total (all out in 49.3 overs, 206 minutes): 211.

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-17, 3-28, 4-49, 5-83, 6-97, 7-126, 8-159, 9-189, 10-211.

Bowling: Gough 10-0-51-3 (3nb, 2w), Martin 8-0-34-1 (6w), Mullally 8-1-20-2, Austin 8.3-0-37-2 (3nb, 1w), Croft 10-0-37-1, Hollioake 5-0-18-1 (1w).