Sri Lanka Under-19 laid to waste their England counterparts in the first of two Twenty20 matches at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street on Monday.

Home captain Paul Best's choice to bat first after winning the toss backfired entirely, as his side capitulated to 107 all out in just 18.3 overs, with skipper Chathura Peiris and support bowlers Lahiru Jayarathne and Bhanuka Rajapaksa finishing with three, two and two wickets apiece respectively.

Opening batsman Jack Manuel's quickfire 23 runs from 12 balls was as good as it got for the hosts and their total could have been considerably worse were it not for wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Rossington's lower-order 22.

In reply, all-rounder Rajapaksa and sidekick Ramith Rambukwella were ruthless in their approach, cranking their collective way to a 75-run first-wicket stand off a mere 7.4 overs.

With the bulk of the chase in the bag, fast bowler Adam Ball snappled the consolation wicket of Rambukwella for 36 before Rajapaksa (54 not out off 29 balls) and Yasoda Lanka (14 not out) carried the visitors to a nine-wicket triumph midway with more than six overs to spare.

The teams meet again on Tuesday for the second and final Twenty20 match before commencing their five-'ODI' series, which starts on Saturday.