ROWDE'S Tom Alsop feel just short of a century and shared in a record-breaking partnership with teammate Daniel Bell-Drummond as England Lions won at the fourth attempt in their one-day series against Sri Lanka A.

The 21-year-old Hampshire left-hander had faced 105 balls and hit 11 boundaries, Bell-Drummond hitting a century as their partnership of exactly 200 set a new record for the third wicket in List A cricket for the Lions or the England A and B teams that preceded them, beating 194 between Ravi Bopara and James Taylor also against Sri Lanka A in Worcester in 2014.

Having lost each of their first three games, Andy Flower's tourists finally came out on top in Colombo as Bell-Drummond (100) and Alsop (96) shared a decisive stand.

Sri Lanka chose to bat first and were dismissed for 242, debutant Graeme White and Toby Roland-Jones sharing six wickets while Liam Livingstone and Craig Overton turned in disciplined stints.

The Lions had a shaky start to their response as openers Ben Duckett and Keaton Jennings both fell to Vikum Sanjaya, leaving the score 12 for two in the fifth over.

That brought Bell-Drummond and Alsop together and they were not parted until the latter was stumped at the end of the 40th over.

By then the back of the chase had been broken and Bell-Drummond ensured he reached three figures, for the second time at this level, before he was bowled by Chaturanga de Silva.

Livingstone (15no) finished things with 16 balls to spare, smashing a big six down the ground, having settled any residual nerves alongside Ben Foakes (17no).