England vs Sri Lanka | ENG vs SL 1st ODI: Chris Woakes and Joe Root shine as England beat Sri Lanka by 5 wickets in first ODI

The England cricket team stopped Sri Lanka for 185 runs in the first ODI on the basis of excellent bowling by Chris Woakes and David Willey. England’s batsmen then, especially Joe Root (79 not out), returned to ODI cricket after nine months with a match-winning knock in his 150th match. England beat Sri Lanka for the loss of 5 wickets in just 34.5 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the ODI series.

In this first ODI, after winning the toss, England invited Sri Lanka to bat first. For the Sri Lankan team, captain Kusal Perera’s 73 runs off 81 balls with the help of seven fours and Vanindu Hasaranga’s 54 runs off 65 balls with the help of six fours and a six could only make 185 runs in 42.3 overs.

For Sri Lanka, apart from Perera and Hasaranga, no other batsman could play a big innings, due to which the team could not bat even for the prescribed 50 overs. There was a 99-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Perera and Hasaranga. After the break of this partnership, the Sri Lankan innings fell apart like a pack of cards.

All the credit for cheaply wrapping up the Sri Lankan innings goes to two England fast bowlers. Chris Woakes took 4 wickets for 18 runs in 5 maidens in 10 overs. During which he also completed his 150 wickets in ODI cricket. While David Willey took 3 wickets giving 44 runs in 10 overs. Apart from these two, Moeen Ali took 1 wicket, while the rest of the batsmen were run out.

It did not take much time for the England team to answer. They got off to a good start when the two openers – Jonny Bairstow (43 runs) and Liam Livingstone put on a 54-run partnership for the first wicket. But in the fifth over, Karunaratne dismissed Livingstone (9), after which England’s 4 wickets had fallen within the next 26 runs.

However, after this, veteran player Joe Root, who returned to the team, played a brilliant innings of 79 not out in 87 balls and took his team to victory. Root was playing his 150th ODI match, during which he also completed 6000 runs in ODIs. Apart from Root, Moeen Ali scored 28 runs. While Sam Curran remained not out after scoring 9 runs. England chased down the target in 34.5 overs at the loss of 5 wickets.