England 292 (Hussain 79, Stewart 64) beat Sri Lanka 249 for 6 (Jayawardene 71, Arnold 60*) by 43 runs
Scorecard

After 61 days and 14 matches of pain, England at last recorded that elusive first win of their Ashes tour when they comfortably beat Sri Lanka by 43 runs at the `Gabba. Nasser Hussain led the way with a gutsy 79, with support from Alec Stewart (64), while Steve Harmison picked up two wickets - the first with just his third ball in one-day internationals - in a vibrant display.

England were all out for 292 off the last ball of their innings, and once Sri Lanka lost early wickets the result was never in doubt. The game then descended into a spectacularly dull affair as Sri Lanka set their sights no higher than a bonus point, which they gained in the penultimate over.

Without the likes of Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting to terrorise them, the England bowlers put on an impressive show and made light work of the Sri Lankan top-order. Early pressure from Andrew Caddick and James Anderson had its reward in the fifth over when Romesh Kaluwitharana skied an attempted pull off Caddick for Alec Stewart to take a simple catch (19 for 1).

Both Sanath Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana had been struggling to negotiate the extra bounce extracted by Caddick, and Anderson in particular, who bowled with admirable pace and control and led the team off the field with Harmison at the end. He thoroughly deserved his wicket in the eighth over when an out-of-sorts Jayasuriya (13 out of 32 balls) fell for the slower-ball trap and scooped straight to a pumped-up Hussain at mid-off (25 for 2).

Paul Collingwood then lifted England spirits even more with a breathtaking catch to give Harmison his first wicket. Kumar Sangakkara slashed a widish delivery low to point where Collingwood flew to his left and took the ball inches above the turf. Sangakkara hung around for a replay but he wasn't given one and had to depart for 11 (63 for 3).

Harmison's debut got even better five overs later when Marvan Atapattu edged him to Nick Knight at wide first slip (101 for 4). Again the pace and bounce were the key and with the anchor-man Atapattu gone for 38, Mahela Jayawardene - later caught behind off Craig White - took over with an assured 71 from 92 balls. But when the required run-rate crept to eight an over after 25 overs, Sri Lanka threw in the towel. The contest, and any interest, petered out into the night.

Russel Arnold (60 not out) and Jehan Mubarak did their best to bore everyone silly in their search for the 234 they needed for a bonus point, but Mubarak soon spooned Anderson to Harmison at mid-off for 13 (192 for 6).

Sri Lanka did at least finish with a flourish: in the last two-and-a-half overs, Arnold and Thilan Samaraweera smashed 33 runs off Ronnie Irani and Caddick.

England had done well to such an imposing total after a sloppy start in which they lost the top three, all caught at backward point, inside the first 14 overs. Marcus Trescothick and Knight made 27 and 29 respectively, both at exactly a run a ball, while Irani finally opened his account for the series after two ducks - and was out two balls later for 1. The Irani experiment at No. 3 just is not working.

From 73 for 3, England regrouped with a sound partnership of 82 in 16 overs between Hussain and Collingwood. Collingwood played busily for 37, giving a passable impersonation of a right-handed Graham Thorpe, before clipping Arnold to a diving Jayawardene at short midwicket (155 for 4).

Hussain, who was dropped on 35, picked up the pace of the innings with Stewart, who signalled the acceleration in the 40th over with a lofted six over mid-on off Samaraweera. But two overs later Hussain fell when his runner Collingwood was beaten by a direct-hit from Jayasuriya at mid-off (227 for 5).

Ian Blackwell kept up the momentum by clouting 24 off 12 balls before Dilhara Fernando held onto a flat-bat thump off his own bowling, and England's innings fell away. With Stewart bowled by Jayasuriya next ball, White needlessly run out two balls after that, they mustered only 25 off the last five overs for the loss of four wickets. In the end, though, the England bowlers made sure that they ultimately had plenty of runs to spare.

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