Wellalage stars as Sri Lanka hold off England to win first ODI

A quickfire unbeaten 25, two wickets and a superb catch on the boundary from Dunith Wellalage helped Sri Lanka beat England by 19 runs in Colombo.

Sri Lanka set England a target of 272 to win after Kusal Mendis's 93 not out and a late flurry of runs from Wellalage, and the tourists were unable to chase that total down in the first of three ODIs.

Pathum Nissanka (21) and Kamil Mishara (27) failed to build on their decent starts, but Mendis brilliantly anchored the Sri Lanka innings, with the help of Janith Liyanage (46).

Mendis struggled to score in the later overs, but Wellalage scored 20 of their 23 runs in the final over to set a competitive target for England.

After Zak Crawley (six) was dismissed early on for England, Joe Root (61) and Ben Duckett

(62) put on a 117-run stand, but things quickly fell apart for the tourists.

Root and Duckett were both removed in the space of five overs, while Wellalage (2-41) then got the better of Jacob Bethell (15) and Sam Curran (five) in back-to-back overs before catching Rehan Ahmed (27) on the boundary rope.

Jamie Overton (34 off 17 balls) gave his side a chance with some late big hitting, and England needed 20 off the final over, but Wellalage then caught the batter off the bowling of Pramod Madushan (3-39) to clinch victory.

- UP! 

Sri Lanka start the series on a high with a 19-run win against England!#SLvENG #SriLankaCricket #SriLanka #CricketNation pic.twitter.com/e9nVqfTzIi

— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) January 22, 2026

Data Debrief: Fernando strikes again in the powerplay

Sri Lanka have now won their last eight ODI matches against England at R Premadasa Stadium, while they have also lost just one of their last 10 games at the venue (W8 L1 T1).

Asitha Fernando (1-64) once again made a crucial impact for Sri Lanka in the powerplay, finding the outside edge of Crawley's bat.

The fast bowler has picked up 16 wickets in the powerplay phase of men's ODIs since the beginning of 2025, the most by any bowler.