Sangakkara scored a fluent half century

He put on 59 with the promoted Marvan Atapattu before giving Alex Tudor his first limited-overs international wicket on his debut after scoring 23.

Atapattu looked in good form, striking four boundaries in his 52-ball 34, but Paul Collingwood threw down his stumps when Kumar Sangakkara called him through for a suicidal single.

Sangakkara made amends for his error by striking a fluent half century and putting on 89 for Sri Lanka's third wicket with Mahela Jayawardene.

However, Jayawardene was also run out following good work by Tudor and wicketkeeper Alec Stewart, and his dismissal sparked a collapse from 162-1 to 229 all out.

Jeremy Snape took a return catch to dismiss Russel Arnold, but Michael Vaughan was England's surprise bowling hero with four wickets for 22 runs.

Sangakkara was trapped lbw, after scoring eight fours in a 79-ball 70, to give Vaughan his first wicket and Thilan Samaraweera was stumped after flailing at a wide delivery.

Vaughan took four cheap wickets

Vaughan's day got better when he snared Chamara Silva and bowled Chaminda Vaas in a double wicket maiden over to finish with figures of four for 22 in six overs.

Darren Gough and Andrew Flintoff picked up the last two wickets to finish Sri Lanka off with two balls to spare.

Marcus Trescothick got England off to a flying start, cracking four boundaries in a 23-ball 27, before playing across the line and being bowled by Nuwan Zoysa.

Zoysa repeated the trick to castle Nick Knight, who made a scratchy 29, but the wheels fell off England's innings when Jayasuriya turned to his spin bowlers.

End in sight

Michael Vaughan miscued a drive to give Upul Chandana a return catch and Nassser Hussain was run out by Atapattu's accurate throw as the runs dried up.

Stewart was bamboozled by the admirable Samaraweera and Flintoff was comprehensively bowled by Jayasuriya, trying to run the ball down to third man.

Irani stayed firm to wheedle 28 runs from 58 balls before top edging a sweep off Jayasuriya to midwicket, but Paul Collingwood worked the ball around well to give England hope.

The end was in sight when Collingwood was run out for 29, Jaysuriya picked up his third wicket when Tudor top edged a sweep and Gough was run out to end England's challenge.

England: Marcus Trescothick, Nick Knight, Michael Vaughan, Nasser Hussain (captain), Ronnie Irani, Paul Collingwood, Alec Stewart, Andrew Flintoff, Jeremy Snape, Darren Gough, Alex Tudor.

Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold, Chamara Silva, Thilan Samaraweera, Upul Chandana, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Pramodya Wickramasinghe.