ALASTAIR COOK inspired Essex to a 22 run win over World T20 champions Sri Lanka on Tuesday night in Chelmsford.
The England skipper scored 71 off 49 balls, with Ben Foakes hitting the ball wonderfully to reach 51 off just 31.
Oliver Newby was the pick of the host's bowlers, finishing on figures of 3-36 off five overs to help guide Essex to a comfortable victory.
The original 50 overs were cut down to just 21-a-side due to inclement weather that frustrated a buoyant Chelmsford crowd.
Cook and Ravi Bopara both returned to Essex's starting XI in preparation for England's upcoming One Day International series. Reece Topley made his first appearance of the season, with Paul Grayson also handing a first-team debut to 21-year-old Matt Salisbury.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field, but both teams were off the pitch due to rain after only two overs played. And that was the only action for another five hours and five pitch inspections with officials not happy with the condition of the outfield.
When they restarted Essex immediately tried to push the pace, but skipper Mark Pettini (8) was caught down at third-man whilst trying to pull Ranasinghe Lakmal.
When Lakmal then bowled the middle stump of Greg Smith (1), Cook was joined at the crease by England team-mate Bopara. But he didn't last long, as Kariyawasam Prasad trapped him plumb in front for a duck.
Ben Foakes joined the England skipper and they were able to guide the hosts to 46-3 after ten overs. Foakes kicked on with successive sixes off Pinnaduwage De Silva and moved to 51 off 30 balls in the 16th over. However, he was then caught at mid-off the next ball, leaving Essex on 103-4.
Cook brought up his 50 with a lovely flicked six down to fine leg. He was eventually caught at mid-on for 71 off 49 balls in the penultimate over, with James Foster (12no) and Tom Westley (16no) giving Essex a strong finish on 161-5.
Chasing 169 due to a revised total using the Duckworth Lewis method, Sri Lanka got off to a bad start when Newby trapped Narangoda Perera LBW for four.
Tillakeratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene settled the innings down, but the latter was undone by another decent Newby delivery and was caught behind by Foakes for six.
Tight bowling from Salisbury, Smith and Monty Panesar frustrated the tourists and they got another breakthrough when Panesar bowled Dilshan for 22. Smith then picked up the wicket of Hettige Thirimanne (5) and Sri Lanka limped to 44-4 off eight overs.
Lokuge Chandimal and Angelo Mathews tried to push the score along but when Mathews was caught on the mid-on boundary for 19 the game was hanging in the balance.
When Perera was caught by Foakes off Topley, the visitors just had too much work to do and were nowhere near getting the final target.
Salisbury topped off a decent debut by grabbing his first first-team wicket when he had Prasad well caught by Bopara.
