Harry Brook had called on his England players to continue the “high-octane” cricket witnessed during their clean sweep in the Twenty20s but this latest victory over Sri Lanka in the first one-day international was more of a slow-burn affair.
Gone was the neck-arching carnage of the previous week and in its place, on a tired end-of-season surface, England were bowled out for 265 in 48.1 overs. Brook top-scored with 67 under a warm September sun, before his bowlers rolled the tourists for 176 to take a 1-0 lead into Thursday’s second match at Headingley.
