Heather Knight's side, aiming to build on Sunday's seven-wicket win in the opening ODI at Chester-Le-Street, had seized the initiative after choosing to bowl first in overcast conditions at the County Ground.

Returning pair Charlie Dean (2-12) and Alice Davidson-Richards (2-16) made a big impact with the ball for England, while Lauren Filer continued the impressive start to her international white-ball career as she claimed 2-25 from eight overs.

• Scorecard: England vs Sri Lanka, second ODI
• England vs Sri Lanka: Second ODI, Northampton - As it happened!
• Stream the best cricket and more top sport with NOW

Sri Lanka's only real resistance came from skipper Chamari Athapaththu (34) and Hasini Perera (31 not out), who survived two catching opportunities in the field, but the arrival of rain in the 31st over with the tourists 106-9 brought about an early close with England still leading the three-match series 1-0.

Sri Lanka stumble before rain intervenes

There were some eyebrows raised when England's team was announced at the toss as Mahika Gaur was rested despite the 17-year-old seamer taking three wickets on her player-of-the-match ODI debut, while Emma Lamb was out due to a back spasm.

All-rounders Davidson-Richards, added to the squad on Sunday, and Dean replaced them, although it was less surprising to see Knight immediately opt to bowl at the toss on a cloudy day which saw rain delay the start by half an hour.

When play did get under way, England's opening bowlers Kate Cross and Lauren Filer both made inroads inside the first powerplay. Cross drew an edge from Vishmi Gunaratne (8) to Amy Jones in the third over, and five overs later Filer tempted Harshitha Samarawickrama (6) into wafting her bat at a shorter ball going down the off side which the England wicketkeeper gobbled up as well.

Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu was looking well set though as she clubbed six fours and hoisted Cross over midwicket for six in a run-a-ball 34. However, off-break bowler Dean took just four balls to strike and remove the dangerous left-hander, trapping her lbw and leaving the tourists 53-3 after 10 overs.

Perera and Hansima Karunaratne attempted to dig in, but the latter went for just eight in the 17th over when she hooked Davidson-Richards to Glenn on the deep-backward point boundary.

Knight then dropped a catch in the slips off new batter Kavisha Dilhari the following over, but she departed one ball later without troubling the scorer as Dean claimed her second wicket with a superb caught and bowled.

Perera was put down by Tammy Beaumont too, and she survivws being caught after a superb piece of fielding from Nat Sciver-Brunt prevented a six, but wickets fell at regular intervals as seamer Davidson-Richards claimed another scalp when Anushka Sanjeewani dragged on for a duck and Sarah Glenn snared Oshadi Ranasinghe (12) lbw.

Filer picked up another wicket two overs into her second spell, getting Udeshika Prabodhani to edge to Jones without scoring, and then Achini Kulasuriya was calamitously run out for a duck on the penultimate ball of the 31st over to leave Sri Lanka nine down as rain brought play to a halt.

The tourists now need a win in the final match of the series in Leicester on Thursday to come away with the series finishing level, while another win or no result for England will see them take victory after a surprise loss in the IT20 series between these teams.

What's next?

The teams now head to Leicester for the concluding game of this three-match series. That takes place on Thursday, September 4 starting at 12.30pm, with live coverage on Sky Sports Cricket from 12pm. Also stream on NOW.