SL won the toss and England were in trouble at 120-4 before an unbeaten 200 from Joe Root took them to 575-9 declared. Nuwan Pradeep took 4-123.
In reply, Kaushal Silva (62 not out) and Kumar Sangakkara (32 not out) led SL to 140-1 at the close of play. Earlier, Dimuth Karunaratne was caught behind for 38 off the bowling of debutant Chris Jordan.