Alastair Cook was relieved after England finally ended their losing run in one-day internationals with a five-wicket victory in Hambantota.

Alastair Cook was relieved after England finally ended their losing run in one-day internationals with a five-wicket victory in Hambantota.

England had lost seven of their last eight one-day internationals and had fallen 2-0 down in the seven-match series against Sri Lanka before Jos Buttler's hard-hitting half-century saw them over the line in the third game.

"It's great to get over the line," said Cook. "We probably made it harder than we should have, we had a great start with Mo [Moeen Ali] and we were cruising.

"But it was a great knock by 'Jose' [Buttler] and Rooty [Joe Root] to get us over the line."

Cook himself helped set the platform, contributing 34 to an opening stand of 84 with the in-form Moeen, who hit 58 off 40 balls before being shambolically run out.

"It was nice to score a few," said Cook, whose place in the limited-overs side had again come under question. "It was disappointing to get out when I did because we were building a good partnership."

If that innings helps build Cook's case for continued involvement, though, the decision may be taken out of England's hands should their again lacklustre over rate land him a suspension for the fourth ODI.

Cook is already on a warning, but he noted with a smile: "It's hard when the ball goes everywhere and it's such a big ground, it takes a while for the batters to get out. Hopefully people will be kind on me and I might get away with it."

Opposite number Angelo Mathews was frustrated with his side's bowling and fielding, which allowed England to chase down a reduced Duckworth-Lewis target of 236 in 35 overs.

"The batters put up a really good show but I think we were still short by 10 or 15 runs," he said.

"The spinners found it hard to grip the ball but we were pretty poor in the field. We don't need to panic, it's one game, we played pretty poorly and need to bounce back."

The reduction in England's total, Sri Lanka having made 242 for eight, came as a surprise and Mathews said: "Duckworth-Lewis, you can't really rely on it. But the bowlers weren't really up to it and the fielding, dropped catches and no-balls here and there."