England sink Sri Lanka

Captain Eoin Morgan hit 92 decisive runs to guide England to a damp squib win over Sri Lanka with rain halting play for the second straight match in their one-day series. England was awarded a 31- run victory on a faster run rate after a torrential downpour at the Dambulla ground.

The tourists scored 278-9 from 50 overs, with Morgan hitting 11 fours and two sixes in his innings, while Test captain Joe Root made 71. The umpires stopped play with Sri Lanka on 140-5 after 29 of their overs. Thisara Perera was on 44 and Dhananjaya de Silva on 36 when play was halted.

They put on 66 for the sixth wicket after Sri Lanka looked in deep trouble at 74 for five. Heavy rain was still falling an hour after the suspension and England were given victory under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern run rate system. Only 15 overs of the first ODI between the two sides was possible on Wednesday before the game had to be abandoned without a result.

A warm-up game against a Sri Lanka Cricket XI on October 6 did not start because of rain. “We have had a halted start in training and the first game with the rain,” said Morgan. “I wouldn’t say it was our best game. The batting managed to scrape something together. We should have gone past a par score but ended up scraping to that.”