Will Jacks returned from emergency appendicitis surgery to deliver a match-winning performance as England beat Sri Lanka in the first one-day international. The 27-year-old all-rounder took career-best figures of 5-22 and contributed an unbeaten 46, demonstrating growing confidence and maturity after a difficult recovery.

Jacks had initially expected to miss around four weeks but returned early to captain the Lions before playing in England’s T20 series sweep. He bowled only five days before the ODI while rebuilding his core strength, yet produced 4.3 degrees of turn on a slow pitch, helping England recover from 211-7 to reach 265.