A TOP score of 37 by Worcestershire's Kadeer Ali failed to prevent England from losing by six wickets to Sri Lanka in their final warm-up match before the start of the ICC Under 19 World Cup in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Having won the toss and deciding to bat first, England made a solid start with Kadeer and Nick Compton (29) putting on 60 for the first wicket.

Five run-outs hampered England and the team was dismissed for 178 in 49.1 overs. Sri Lankan bowlers Ranawake and Fernando took two wickets each.

Chasing 179 in 50 overs, Sri Lanka passed the total in 40 overs with six wickets remaining. Christopher Gilbert, Bilal Shafayat and Samit Patel each took a wicket.

England start their World Cup campaign against Nepal on Monday. Their other two first round group matches are against Papua New Guinea on Wednesday and Pakistan next Friday.