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Sri Lanka beat England by 219 runs on DLS in fifth ODI

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Highlights of the rain-affected fifth and final ODI between Sri Lanka and England at Colombo.

England fell to a 219-run DLS defeat - their heaviest in one-day internationals - by Sri Lanka in the final game of the series in Colombo after being restricted to 132-9 in their chase of 367 before rain intervened.

SCORECARD | AS IT HAPPENED

Without captain Eoin Morgan - who rested himself - the visitors lost three wickets in five balls for no runs in their chase of 367, to collapse to 4-3 after only two overs - as opener Alex Hales and stand-in skipper Jos Buttler, who came in at four, both falling for second-ball ducks.

Despite struggling with cramp throughout his innings, Ben Stokes top-scored with 67 off 60 - sharing a 79-run fifth-wicket stand with Moeen Ali (37) - but the away side crumbled with Liam Plunkett the last man out before the heavens opened.

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Sri Lanka's top four all blasted half-centuries, with Niroshan Dickwella's 95 the pick, as England's much-changed seam bowling line-up of Mark Wood, Sam Curran and Liam Plunkett were flayed around the pitch and the hosts' 366-6 was the third highest ODI total without a centurion.

The visitors will be looking to bounce back quickly in their last white-ball match if the tour on Saturday, when they play a one-off T20I in Colombo.

Dinesh Chandimal's decision to bat first was vindicated as Dickwella and Sadeera Samarawickrama struck the highest opening stand against England in a 50-over match since South Africa at Centurion in February 2016.

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The Sri Lankan pair clubbed 10 boundaries in 22 balls during the powerplay as the visitors' seam trio of Wood and Sam and Tom Curran struggled to find their rhythm in the intense heat of the commercial capital of the country.

Dickwella's fifty off 49 balls was followed by a maiden half-century for Sadeera - coming from only 40 balls and including eight boundaries.

Mendis
Image: Kusal Mendis hit his first ODI half-century in 23 innings

England finally made a vital breakthrough in bizarre circumstances as Ali bowled Sadeera, clipping the top of off, but Buttler failed to appeal at first and it was left to an umpire's review to confirm the fall of the wicket.

Edging towards his third ODI century, Dickwella lost his calm and sent a tame top-edge gently to Joe Root at backward point to fall five runs short of three figures with Sri Lanka's innings looking like it was losing impetus.

However, an under-pressure Kusal Mendis and skipper Chandimal - who was put down twice off Ali - quickly found their groove, with a pair of sixes off Tom Curran bringing up a 30-ball 50 for the former after the latter had hit his own run-a-ball half-century.

Having smashed 102 runs off 76 balls between them for the third wicket, Plunkett returned and the extra bounce from the Surrey-bound bowler forced Mendis into an error, that saw him caught at deep midwicket for 54.

Ben Stokes
Image: Ben Stokes his 12 fours in his 60-ball innings

Tom Curran then chipped in with two wickets in two balls - including dismissing Chandimal for an impressive 80 - but the hosts finished with a bang, as they hit their fifth highest-ever ODI total.

England's chase could not have got off to a worse start, with Jason Roy (4) bowled off the final ball of the first over and Hales and Buttler followed him back to the pavilion within the next five balls.

Test captain Root, who came to the crease at the start of the second over, had to wait for 14 minutes to face his first delivery but fell for 10 as a brilliant forward-diving catch from Sadeera at backward point saw Chameera pick up his third scalp of the innings.

Though Stokes and Ali put up some resistance, Sri Lankan spinner Akila Dananjaya claimed 4-19 off 6.1 overs to seal a deserved victory to sign off a challenging series in style.

Watch the one-off T20I between Sri Lanka and England, in Colombo, live on Sky Sports Cricket (channel 404) from 2pm on Saturday.

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