SL blunder helps England to series win

England have completed a 3-0 one-day international series win over Sri Lanka in Kandy with their third-straight victory, aided by another deluge and mathematicians.

Eoin Morgan's side were almost halfway through their pursuit of 274 on Saturday when thunderstorms struck again.

The final victory margin, 18 runs under Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS), was comfortable but England's closing position of 2-132 after 27 overs would have been worse if not for Joe Root's unusual reprieve.

Root was on 22 when he was caught at short fine leg off a rank full toss, only for square-leg umpire Lyndon Hannibal to signal no-ball having spotted a fifth fielder outside the circle.

The score would have been 3-112 had the dismissal stood, which would have reduced the DLS par score to close to that total and allowed the hosts to ramp up the pressure on the new England batsman as the rain approached.

But the dismissal was correctly reversed, tipping the DLS equation further against Sri Lanka and Root and Morgan's 56-run stand nudged England home when the weather finally intervened five overs later.

"If we had not made a mistake of having five fielders outside the circle and got Root's wicket it would have been a close game," said Sri Lanka's top-scorer Dasun Shanaka.

"We could have built on the pressure from there and forced another mistake."

The result continues the tourists' dominance in a format in which they had won their past nine series - a sequence only interrupted by a shock one-off loss to Scotland.

Chris Woakes delivered his usual reliable stint after Morgan opted to bowl first, allowing just 10 runs from five testing overs and drawing an edge from Sadeera Samarawickrama to open England's account.

Niroshan Dickwella and Dinesh Chandimal put on a low-risk, 70-run second-wicket partnership.

Moeen Ali eventually drew errors from both men, Chandimal charging at one that spun sharply and hit off stump and Dickwella lbw for 52 on the sweep.

From 1-89, Sri Lanka were soon 4-102, Adil Rashid taking care of Kusal Mendis lbw on his way to the tidiest figures of the day, just 36 from his 10 overs.

Shanaka collared the leg-spinner for two sixes, going on to hit five in all including two in a row off Olly Stone, who went wicketless at 7.14 an over.

England were slightly ragged in the final 10 overs, conceding 83 runs.

The England chase began with Dickwella gifting four byes twice from Lasith Malinga's first over. Jason Roy continued to chip away against Amila Aponso's spin, clubbing successive deliveries down the ground for four and six.

Hales, standing in for the injured Jonny Bairstow, was smartly stumped off Akila Dananjaya for 12. Roy (45) was given lbw on review to an innocuous leg-stump delivery from Dananjaya.

With thick, dark clouds rolling in, it quickly became apparent the full 50 overs would not be bowled, placing an emphasis on DLS par.

A third wicket would have vastly improved the home side's chances but Root (32no) and Morgan (31no) ensured England were safe when the weather changed.

The fifth and final ODI will be played in Colombo.