Joe Root and Chris Woakes power England to win over Sri Lanka

Joe Root took England to a convincing five wicket victory in the ODI series opener against Sri lanka at Chester-le-street on Tuesday. Sri Lanka posted a below par target of 186 in 42.3 overs. Hosts achieved the target with 91 balls left courtesy of Root’s unbeaten half century. Earlier in the day, pacer Chris Woakes took four wickets to topple the Sri lankan batting along with  fellow quick bowler David Willey who ended with 3-44 in 10 overs.

England started the run chase positively and quickly raced to 50 for no loss in under five overs. Johnny Bairstow started with three boundaries down the off side. Meanwhile Fellow opener Liam Livingstone fell to Dushamanta Chameera as he clipped a short ball to mid-on. In the next over Binura Fernando bowled Bairstow for 43 as the ball took an inside edge and hit the wicket.

Chameera dismissed Eoin Morgan(6) and Sam Billings(3) quickly to give some hope to the away side. But Root steadied the ship along with Moen Ali, both of them accumulated 91-runs before Ali fell to Chameera for 28. It was the pacer’s third wicket of the day and he finished with 3 for 50 in 8 overs. Root remained unbeaten at 79 and comfortably took England over the line along with Sam Curran, who scored the winning runs.

Woakes key as England topple Sri Lanka

England pacer Chris Woakes sent the first opener back to pavilion in the fourth over. Pathum Nissanka tried to pull a slower ball and was caught by Moen Ali at mid-wicket. In the next over Willey dismissed left hander Charith Asalanka with a vintage left-armer’s delivery. The out-swinger from good length took the edge and went straight to Root at second slip. Woakes dismissed Dasun Shanaka(1) with another beautiful out-swinger that took an edge and carried to wicket-keeper Bairstow.

Perera and Wanindu Hasranga stitched together a partnership of 99 runs for the fourth wicket. Perera reached his fifty in just 46 deliveries. Hasaranga smashed Rashid Khan for a six with a slog sweep. Meanwhile Woakes returned to dismiss Hasaranga for 54. The 32-year-old pacer’s short-pitch delivery surprised Hasaranga and his pull shot was caught by Livingstone who came running in from deep mid-wicket to take a diving catch.

Srilanka lost the last 7 wickets for 40 runs. Perera was caught by Billings at deep mid-wicket from Willey’s bowling. Woakes finished with 4 for 18 in his quota of 10 overs. Meanwhile Billings took the last Sri-lankan wicket with a superb run out.

England and Sri Lanka will face each other in the second ODI at Oval on Thursday.