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It was like a day of cricketing snakes and ladders for England on Tuesday: sliding from their No1 Twenty20 ranking before play began and then climbing up a rung in the one-day standings courtesy of a comprehensive dispatch of Sri Lanka.
India's controversial last-ball win over Japan, hinging on the successful overturning of a wide at the death, limited Harry Brook's team to a 72-hour occupancy of top spot in T20, but the 89-run victory at the Riverside saw them displace their opponents in sixth in the 50-over format.
It was not the most aesthetically pleasing performance, but with the 50-over World Cup now just 12 months away, other characteristics emerged that will hold them in good stead going forward, such as scrambling to a par score and remaining disciplined with the ball, amounting to their first successful defence of a sub-300 score in one-day internationals – discounting those reduced in length by bad weather – since July 2022.
Harry Brook struck 67 but for the first time in 2026 Joe Root could not make it to a half-century, falling six short, as England were dismissed for 265.
They would not have had that many to defend but for an end-of-innings surge from man-of-the-match Will Jacks, Brook's acting vice-captain, who then followed up an unbeaten 46 with a career-best haul of five for 22 with his off spin.
'It was a very good win in my eyes, the pitch wasn't as good as you'd expect in England but we have managed to manufacture a win when conditions weren't in our favour,' beamed Brook.
Will Jacks was the star of the show for England with a career-best haul of five for 22
Jacks earlier struck an unbeaten 46 during an 89-run victory over Sri Lanka at Durham
Captain Harry Brook top scored for England with 67 after winning the toss and deciding to bat first
'It was hard to score when the ball was hitting the stumps and those were the conversations we had before we went out to bowl - predominantly keep the stumps in play as much as possible and wait for them to make a mistake. It was about being as patient as we could.'
England appeared on course to challenge the 300 mark when a third-wicket stand was developing between Brook and Joe Root.
Yes, there were some hairy moments such as when Root, on 23, survived a leg before review from debutant Sachindu Colombage. Or the misunderstanding when Brook called for an impish quick single and got a mouthful from his fellow Yorkshireman, reeling as Pathum Nissanka's under-arm throw from the on-side flashed past the stumps at the striker's end.
Yet it still felt like a surprise when in the next over, Root was finally dismissed following a 404-run unbroken sequence in ODIs, fending inside a regulation leg break to hand Colombage a prized maiden international scalp.
At 28, Colombage might have considered that international cricket had passed him by, but he took advantage of being called up to Sri Lanka's squad for the first time because of an injury to fellow wrist-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay, bowling with such great control that England were unable to transform a position of 175 for three into an impregnable position.
England were also complicit in their own demise, as Brook, who struck a maiden ODI hundred on this ground two years ago this week and looked every bit set to add another, charged at fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera but only succeeded in slicing straight to deep point.
Rehan Ahmed – England's primary spinner in this series after Adil Rashid was ruled out with a hand injury – then sacrificed himself in calling for a run that was never there in between Jos Buttler and Jamie Overton becoming Colombage's second and third victims in figures of 10-0-44-3.
It meant that England had slipped to 211 for seven on a soporific September surface.
Brook opted to bat first after winning the toss, in the knowledge that strokeplay would get harder as the ball got softer.
Tom Banton, opening for the first time for England in this format, was accounted for when it was at its newest by a peach of a delivery from Asitha Fernando that curved away from a middle stump line to hit the top of off.
Fernando later book-ended an over from Chameera in which Jacks belted four consecutive fours with the castling of Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue in a fine display of reverse swing bowling.
Sri Lanka got through the new-ball period relatively unscathed, but the asking rate had climbed to a run a ball by the time Jacks finished his first over, the 19th of the innings.
The pressure told as Jacks and Surrey team-mate Jamie Overton combined in mid-innings with two strikes apiece to plunge the Sri Lankans from 84 for two to 105 for six.
Dunith Wellalage's enterprising 36-ball 45 simply delayed the inevitable and Jacks sealed a 1-0 series lead with three wickets in four deliveries.
