England power past Sri Lanka thanks to efforts of Jos Buttler and Joe Root

Young England were victorious at last. They defeated Sri Lanka by five wickets with eight balls to spare at 11.45pm in the depths of the jungle. No wonder England selected the youngsters for this match. The older men such as Ian Bell and James Tredwell, both surprisingly omitted, might have been fast asleep by then.

The critical knocks in a harum-scarum run chase came from the new(ish) brigade. Moeen Ali struck a brilliant 58 in 40 balls to launch the innings with gusto and no less than four sixes; there was a handy knock from Alex Hales, who replaced Bell, and then, just when England seemed to have forfeited the initiative by losing three wickets for eight runs, Joe Root and Jos Buttler combined to add 84 runs in 64 balls. This might make it all look remarkably straightforward on the scorecard but sometimes the scorecard lies.

Perhaps the most critical moment came in the 32nd over of the chase, when 40 were required in four overs. First Root flicked a six over fine-leg off the fast bowler Dhammika Prasad.

Next ball he drove a catch straight to extra cover – another step forward, another two back – until it transpired the bowler had overstepped by a few millimetres. Root was reinstated; England were reinvigorated. Now Buttler found his magic alongside Root and away they motored to their target.

At the start Alastair Cook described the selectorial decisions as “brave”, though Bell and Tredwell, the two politest men in the party, might have chosen an alternative adjective. Less surprisingly, Harry Gurney was also dropped. Hales batted at No3, most encouragingly for his 27 given his lack of match practice, though he was probably to blame for the profligate run-out of Moeen.

Cook hit 34 from 42 balls, an infuriating score though he batted as fluently as we have seen for a long time. Still, he could beam at the end after this precious victory and for once, the potency of his batting was not the main talking point. His place is no less secure than it was before the start of the game except for the fact England’s over-rate was so slow that the Essex man, as captain, might receive a one-match ban from the ICC. In fact, this would not be a bad time for him to pay his dues.

He seemed phlegmatic about that afterwards. “We may have been a bit slow but I don’t know what the punishment might be. It’s a huge ground and the batters were a bit slow coming out,” Cook said. He acknowledged he would have been “devastated” if England had lost this match. “That partnership [between Buttler and Root) was just brilliant. They were brave enough to take their time at the start of it.”

It was a day when England were brave if not flawless in their cricket. They were aided by the absence of Mahela Jayawardene but Sri Lanka had sufficient know-how to muster a competitive total despite losing three wickets inside six overs. They were still dependent upon their senior citizens.

Tillakaratne Dilshan hit a skittish 23; Kumar Sangakkara, while passing the 13,000 mark in ODI cricket, cruised to a silky run-a-ball 63. Later he would snaffle a record 473rd catch. And Angelo Mathews, the leading run-scorer in ODI cricket this year, was out for 37 just when the Sri Lanka captain was threatening to run amok.

At the end, less familiar names caused damage. Lahiru Thirimanne produced an invaluable innings, notable for his deft placement rather than raw power. He left the brutal stuff to Prasad, who smashed a brisk 21 from eight balls.

There were more pluses for England. Three of the quicker bowlers – Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan and Steve Finn – bowled encouragingly. Given his absence from the first two games, Jordan’s effort was especially commendable. Moeen, who has been given plenty of responsibility in this side, was also trustworthy. Cook’s problem stemmed from his “fifth” bowler. In fact he used three men to deliver the required quota of seven overs – Ben Stokes, Ravi Bopara and Root – and between them they yielded 73 runs. Of these, Stokes was the most untrustworthy and the source of the greatest concern for England.

There is gold down there somewhere, but it is taking a bit of mining. Given the frailty of his “fifth” bowler, Cook was probably grateful that weather had reduced the game by 15 overs. In Sri Lanka’s last 10 they had scored 102 runs. For once it was not quite enough.