England women earn series victory

Second women's ODI, Colombo: England 206-9 (50 overs) beat Sri Lanka 107 (41 overs) by 99 runs

Scorecard

I'm delighted - I've acclimatised and adjusted to the pitches very well Laura Newton More post-match quotes

Laura Newton and Rosalie Birch played the leading roles as England's women sealed a 2-0 series win in Sri Lanka.

Newton top scored with 60 and spin bowler Birch claimed 4-22 as they came out on top by 99 runs in the second match in Colombo.

England posted a total of 206-9 and it looked more than enough against a side they had bowled out for 61 on Thursday.

Sri Lanka were more resilient this time but Isa Guha and Jo Watts helped Birch bowl them out for 107 in 41 overs.

England made three changes, with Guha, Caroline Atkins and Laura Harper replacing Katherine Brunt, Arran Brindle and Lydia Greenway.

But they opted to stick with Birch, who took 4-14 in the opening game after only playing twice dring the summer one-day series against Australia.

Sri Lanka chose to put England in after winning the toss and it paid off intially as Charlote Edwards and Claire Taylor went cheaply.

But Newton followed her 59 in the first game with another confident innings and she received good support from Jenny Gunn (49) and Atkins, who made 32 in her first one-day appearance since 2002.

Left-arm spinner Swini de Alwis was the pick of nine bowlers tried by the home side, and Newton and Atkins were among her victims as she took 3-38.

De Alwis also proved the most obdurate with the bat for Sri Lanka, top scoring with 29 before she was caught by skipper Edwards off Watts.

Birch has been among the wickets at the start of the tour

After a five-over opening spell from Beth Morgan which cost only four runs and brought her the wicket of Chamari Polgampola for nought, England soon turned to the spin of Birch, Watts and Harper.

Although Harper was wicket-less from her seven overs, Birch and Watts worked their way through the Sri Lanka batting line-up before seamer Guha picked up the final two wickets.

England now move on to India for the second leg of their tour, where they will play a Test match in Delhi prior to five limited overs internationals.

One worry for coach Richard Bates is the number of wides sent down by the bowlers, with a total of 34 in the two matches.