England Under-19 almost made a complete meal of a modest chase in the first of five Youth ODIs against their Sri Lanka counterparts, but ultimately came up trumps at the FP Fenner's Ground in Cambridge on Saturday.

Having won the toss and opted to bowl first, the hosts restricted Sri Lanka Under-19 to 207 for seven in their allotted 50 overs. Seamer Lewis Gregory and spinner Paul best were the pick of the home bowlers, bagging two for 38 and two for 23 respectively.

The visitors' tally could have been considerably worse were it not for Dhanushka Gunathilleke's 83 not out, which saw his side recover from 90 for six to a total, at least, defendable.

In reply, needing to score at a smidgen more than four to the over, Joe Root (48) and Alex Barrow (50) kept the scoreboard ticking over at a decent rate.

A slight middle-order collapse left it all to do for England's lower-order, with Luke Wells (39 not out) and David Payne (four not out) keeping their collective nerve in steering their side to a tense three-wicket win with four deliveries to spare.

"We are delighted to be one up," enthused host captain Best after the game. "This match was closer than it needed to be and we aim to be more disciplined and ruthless going forward."

The teams meet again at Arundel on Monday.