Match overview
Sri Lanka Cricket beat England Cricket by 19 runs at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, on 22 January 2026. Winning the toss and electing to bat, Sri Lanka posted 271/6 from their 50 overs. England were dismissed for 252 in response. The match ended a run of five consecutive ODI victories England had recorded against Sri Lanka, including a 53-run win at this very ground earlier in the same period. DN Wellalage was named Player of the Match.
Sri Lanka's innings was built in the middle overs, where they scored 142 runs for the loss of four wickets across overs 11 to 40. The death overs (41 to 50) produced 80 more runs at the cost of just two wickets, pushing the total well clear of the venue's average first-innings score of 189. England's reply was competitive in patches but never convincing across all 50 overs.
England's chase started cautiously, with 41 runs and one wicket in the powerplay. The middle phase yielded 127 runs but five wickets, and by the time the death overs arrived England needed too many off too few. They scored 84 in the final 10 overs but lost four wickets in the process, running out of recognised batters before they could reach the target.
Venue and conditions
R. Premadasa Stadium has hosted 176 ODIs, making it one of the more extensively data-sampled grounds in Asian cricket. The average first-innings score stands at 189, while chasing sides average 161. Teams batting first have won more often than not: the chase success rate is 48 per cent, meaning winning the toss and batting carries a modest but real structural advantage.
The powerplay tends to produce around 46 runs on average, suggesting the surface offers early movement to seam bowlers before settling. Death-overs scoring averages 35 runs per innings across the ground's history, which makes Sri Lanka's 80 in that phase all the more significant. The pitch tends to reward bowlers who use the surface intelligently, and spinners in particular have thrived here across multiple formats.
Toss winners choose to field only 34 per cent of the time at Premadasa, a clear signal that captains rate the batting surface highly. Sri Lanka's decision to bat first was consistent with that pattern, and the conditions delivered accordingly.
How to watch
Sri Lanka vs England ODI series fixtures are broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports Cricket. Live streaming is available through Sky Go for existing subscribers and via NOW TV on a day pass or monthly subscription. Viewers in the UK should note that matches in Sri Lanka typically start in the morning UK time given the time zone difference (Sri Lanka Standard Time is five and a half hours ahead of GMT).
For radio coverage, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and the BBC Sport website carry commentary on selected England international fixtures. Check the BBC Sport and Sky Sports websites for up-to-date broadcast schedules ahead of any remaining matches in the series.
Recent form
Sri Lanka came into this match with a mixed recent record. Their last five ODIs included wins against Pakistan Cricket and Zimbabwe Cricket, with defeats against Pakistan in between. The win-loss split across those five matches was 3-2, suggesting a side capable of competing but not consistently dominant.
England's recent form was poor outside of this series. Four of their last five ODIs before this match were defeats, all against Australia Cricket in 2025, with a solitary win against Australia in between. The five-match winning run against Sri Lanka was therefore an important source of confidence for an England side rebuilding its one-day form. Losing that momentum to Sri Lanka in Colombo will add urgency to how England approach any remaining fixtures in the series.
