England opened their three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka with an 89-run win at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street on September 22, built on a career-best spell of 5 for 22 from Will Jacks that ran through the Sri Lankan middle order. It extends the pattern of dominance England showed in the T20I series that preceded it, now carried into the 50-over format.
Captain Harry Brook won the toss, chose to bat, and top-scored with 67, with Joe Root adding 44 to give England a platform. Sri Lanka's attack fought back through the middle overs — debutant wrist-spinner Sachindu Colombage and seamer Asitha Fernando both finished with three wickets — but Jacks, batting at the death, steadied the innings with an unbeaten 46 off 47 balls to push England to 265 all out.
Sri Lanka's chase never got going. Jacks, introduced early, ripped through the top and middle order for figures of 5 for 22, and Sri Lanka collapsed to 176 all out in 37 overs. Dunith Wellalage (45) and Kusal Mendis (42) were the only batters to offer real resistance, but with wickets falling steadily at the other end, neither found the support to build a partnership large enough to chase down a total of that size.
Sri Lanka made two notable changes to their attack for this match, leaving out both frontline spinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana in favour of handing Colombage his ODI debut. Colombage's three-wicket return was a promising individual start, but the broader gamble didn't stop England's lower order from pushing the total past 250, and Sri Lanka's batting couldn't make the total count regardless of who was bowling at them.
This is England's second series assignment against Sri Lanka in 2026 alone — after a 3-0 T20I sweep — and this ODI series has opened the same way. For Jacks, a five-wicket haul is the headline, but combining it with a match-winning contribution with the bat underlines how central he's become to England's white-ball plans across formats this year.
England have now come from behind or dominated outright against Sri Lanka and, earlier this year, India across white-ball cricket at home — a run that will feed directly into how their squad is framed heading toward the next global white-ball events. For Sri Lanka, the tour so far has produced almost nothing to build on: two series, both lost or trending that way, and a debutant spinner's promising figures in this match are one of the few individual positives to emerge from a difficult few weeks on English soil.
The series moves to Headingley for the second ODI on September 25, with the third and final match at The Oval on September 27. England will look to close out the series inside two matches, while Sri Lanka face a must-win game just to keep the contest alive, along with a personnel rethink after their spin gamble didn't deliver the control they needed in Durham.
Live scores from the England-Sri Lanka series are tracked on SportGod's live matches page, with AI-powered previews on SportGod's predictions page and more international cricket coverage on SportGod's blog.
Scorecard figures and match details are verified against same-day match reporting, current as of September 23, 2026.
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