England win in warm-up fixture after tough tour

Abu Dhabi: Though the opposition was nowhere near the level that England will face when the ODI series against Pakistan starts on Monday, a ‘win' in yesterday's warm-up fixture against the England Lions must have certainly been an alien experience on what has been a tough tour so far.

In fact it was a bit strange that England chose to play in the day Pakistan were playing Afghanistan in a day-night ODI in Sharjah, for after all the five upcoming ODIs are to be played as day-night encounters!

And when the Lions were bowled out for 96, England had to set themselves a revised target of 230, which they got with losing just three wickets to taste victory.

Opportunity

Recalled to the side, 25-year-old Jade Dernbach grabbed the opportunity to pick up three wickets for two runs at one stage, while Steven Finn, ignored in the 3-0 Test loss, also scalped three. But England revealed a keenness to see their batsmen spend some time at the crease and the 97-run target was reset at 231.

Skipper Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara got some runs and will be looking to carry that form into Monday's opening fixture.

Cook and Pietersen starred in an opening stand of 79, the England skipper going on to make 68, while Trott's unbeaten 75 and a confident 41 from Pietersen ensured the revised target was worth it.

‘Perfect'

Dernbach later defended England's move to play a day match and said: "It was just important we got used to the conditions, for guys who might not have played at this stadium before. Playing in the heat is always going to help to get the boys accustomed. So I think today was perfect for the guys."

"There are a few training sessions scheduled under lights."

Commenting on his impressive start, the Surrey star said: "I hope it can continue. It was a nice way to start, to set the tone — and that's a job we need to do in the [ODI] series to be successful.

"The aim in any one-day cricket is to take early wickets. You're giving yourself the best possible opportunity of slowing down the scoring rate. If we can keep doing that on a game-to-game basis, we'll be all right," he said.