England's cricketers have finally broken their summer drought.

After 60 winless days and 13 matches in Australia, England thrashed Sri Lanka by 43 runs tonight in the tri-series one-day match at the Gabba on Tuesday.

It wasn't Australian opposition but England, and its small contingent of Barmy Army supporters, didn't care as they celebrated the first win of an Australian tour which has lurched from disaster to drubbing and back again.

With captain Nasser Hussain and veteran Alec Stewart posting half-centuries, England surged to 292 from 50 overs before Sri Lanka salvaged a bonus point by reaching 6-249.

England's players embraced after the victory, even though their hopes of a bonus point were ruined by a late Sri Lankan flourish.

The victory left England in second place on the tri-series points table behind Australia while Sri Lanka has played just one match.

It was a satisfying win at the ground where England's tour plunged into crisis six weeks ago when it was humiliated by 384 runs in the first Ashes Test, falling for 79 in the second innings.

But there was plenty to like about tonight's victory, built on a slick tempo by England's batsmen before its bowlers, with 24-year-old quick Steve Harmison claiming two wickets on debut, suffocating Sri Lanka.

After terrible thrashings in the first three Ashes Tests, England's fans tonight had reason to ask for a mercy rule to be applied to Sri Lanka because the 1996 World Cup champions were gone halfway through the run chase.

They were 4-112 after 25 overs and the rest of the match was as predictable as a kids' movie despite the knocks of Mahela Jayawardene (71 from 92) and Russel Arnold (60 from 62).

England was more exciting during its innings, starting with a rush and maintaining the tempo with the help of veterans Hussain (79 from 106 balls) and Stewart (64 from 60).

England even had its customary collapse, but the loss of 5-14 came well after the Ashes easybeats had laid the foundations for their third-highest one-day international total in Australia.

A cameo knock of 24 from 12 balls by Ian Blackwell and a healthy 37 from 45 by Paul Collingwood gave England some valuable encouragement as it prepares for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.

Sri Lanka has done nothing in the last two months to enhance its chances at February's World Cup in Africa and it must find a cure to its dreadful record on bouncy wickets.

Sri Lanka has now played 74 one-day internationals in Australia and South Africa for just 15 wins, and it is now headed for the bouncy WACA Ground wicket in Perth for matches against England on Friday and Australia on Sunday.

Hussain's happiness was evident when he celebrated after taking a catch off Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya (13 from 32).

"It's a relief, especially for the lads who have been out here right from the start," Hussain said.

"The likes of myself, the coach (Duncan Fletcher), Stewey and Tres (Marcus Trescothick) have been here from the start and it's been fairly poor and fairly embarrassing.

"It's something we felt we had to put right.

"We'll have a couple of beers tonight but we can't afford to go over the top because we have another one-day international in three days.

"But it's important that we enjoy the fact that we've won a game."

Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmore lamented a shabby fielding performance from his players, who have conceded 600 runs in two one-day matches at the Gabba in three days, after losing to Australia A.

But Whatmore rejected any suggestion his team did not chase hard enough, claiming the failure to build partnerships prevented Sri Lanka from mounting a genuine challenge.

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