England succumb to spin-bowling choke as Sri Lanka go 1-0 up

Following a difficult Ashes tour, what is left of Bazball ran into an old-fashioned spin-bowling choke in Colombo. There were glimmers of brilliance from England in a chase of 272. But four Sri Lanka spinners, sharing six wickets between them, won through comfortably in the end.

Despite measured 60s from both Joe Root and Ben Duckett, England fell 19 runs short, their run rate having stayed below five an over for the majority of the run-chase. And so England, who had made attacking batting their brand for several years now, delivered the kind of insipid batting performance reminiscent of their woes in South Asia in decades gone by.

The likes of Dunith Wellalage and Jeffrey Vandersay would prosper on a dry Khettarama track, but it was Sri Lanka's sensible batting that had laid the groundwork for this victory. Kusal Mendis' 93 not out off 117 was the backbone of the innings, with Janith Liyanage punching out a helpful 46, and Wellalage producing the finishing fillip, hitting 25 not out off 12 balls.

Their 271 for 6 was merely a good total, rather than an imposing one. But then Khettarama is a notoriously difficult venue at which to chase. Though Jamie Overton's late hitting gave England a sliver of hope, Sri Lanka had the match mostly trussed up at 40 overs, England needing to score at more than 10 an over at that stage, with four wickets in hand.

Overton could still potentially have stolen victory in the final over, off which England needed 20. But he turned down a single first ball, and then holed out trying to clear the infield off the next one.

England never raced ahead of the required rate at any stage of the innings, but the century second-wicket stand between Root and Duckett was potentially a platform they could have launched from. Both batters scored heavily square of the wicket, but with the track taking substantial turn, and Sri Lanka's seamers bowling tight lines, their progress was always laboured.

Eventually, the run rate pressure began to tell. Duckett tied himself into a knot attempting to reverse sweep, and was pinged in front by Vandersay. Soon after, Root was also dismissed lbw - offspinner Dhananjaya de Silva overturning a not-out decision via review. Harry Brook had one spin past his pads as he was advancing and was stumped down the leg side. Jacob Bethell then ran past a hard-spun Wellalage delivery and was stumped himself.

England lost five wickets between the 28th and the 40th over, and that required rate kept climbing. Although Sri Lanka's seamers were much more expensive than the spinners, they withstood the Overton charge towards the end. Pramod Madushan claimed the final wicket and the best figures in the game, taking 3 for 39 from his 5.2 overs.

It had been Mendis, however, who had set Sri Lanka up in the first innings. He was cautious early on. Arriving in the 11th over, he faced out 12 scoreless deliveries - 10 of those from England's legspinners - before he nurdled himself onto the scoreboard. He was awake to scoring opportunities, particularly in his favoured zones square of the wicket, such as when he struck Rehan Ahmed for successive boundaries behind point in the 15th over.

But as England continued to bowl tightly to him, and the spinners extracted turn from a dry surface, Mendis chose to proceed in a middling gear, pushing for singles and twos instead of dusting off his more aggressive sweeps. He got to 50 off 62 balls, but slowed down a little after that, particularly after he lost Liyanage, with whom he had put on 88 for the fifth wicket.

Although Mendis hit only a single four after the 40th over, Sri Lanka had Wellalage to crash the finishing boundaries. He hit three fours and a six in his 12-ball 25 not out. Mendis was in the 90s in the last two overs, but Wellalage claimed the majority of the strike, taking a particular shine to Overton in the final over, which went for 23.

Adil Rashid was England's best bowler, and was masterful almost from the outset. He slipped a googly past the defences of Kamil Mishara 10 balls into his first spell, then later trapped Dhananjaya de Silva in front, having beaten the batter in the flight. Then in the 43rd over, he cramped Liyanage up and took a simple catch off his own bowling, just as Liyanage was preparing to press the pedal to the floor.