England beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in the opening one-day international at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday to go 1-0 up in a three-match series. Set a modest target of 186, the 50-over world champions finished on 189-5 with more than 15 overs to spare at the Riverside ground. Test captain Joe Root, in his 150th ODI, was 79 not out. Earlier, paceman Chris Woakes took a miserly 4-18 from his maximum 10 overs as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 185. The series continues with a day/night match at the Oval in south London on Thursday. jdg/cdw