England Vs Sri Lanka! England Wins

Ian Bell acknowledges applause for his century in Colombo

England warmed up for the one-day series in Sri Lanka, starting on Monday, with a professional 80-run win over a national board XI in Colombo.

The tourists batted first, reaching 314-4 after a slow start, with Ian Bell accelerating in the closing overs to finish with a fine unbeaten 131.

England's opponents, a virtual Sri Lanka second XI, were then bowled out for just 234 in 45.2 overs.

James Anderson took 3-43, and the whole squad reported fit after a stomach bug.

Interview: England batsman Ian Bell

Bell revealed that his omission from the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa had given him a chance to recharge his batteries and prepare for the tour in his own way.

"I was obviously disappointed not to go, but it was also nice to have a bit of a break from cricket as well," the 25-year-old Warwickshire batsman said.

"It's hard work when you're not involved and you're desperate to be there. I want to play in all forms of the game for England, but I can understand why I wasn't there.

"All the batters have got in and had decent starts and the bowlers have had a couple of spells. Ideally we'd have liked a couple of games, but with the schedule after the Twenty20 it's almost impossible to fit another one in.

"But we can now go into the series with everyone having a bit of form under their belt."

606: DEBATE Your thoughts on England's chances in the series

Captain Paul Collingwood, plus Stuart Broad, Luke Wright, Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen had all fallen ill shortly after their arrival in Sri Lanka.

But those five recovered, and the virus had not spread to other members of the squad.

England will hope there is no second outbreak of illness ahead of the first one-day international in Dambulla - especially as Friday's performance would have given them plenty of encouragement.

The only minor blemish appeared to be the bowling of Monty Panesar - who went for a run a ball in his 8.2 overs before finally striking to claim the final wicket.

And in an ideal world, new wicket-keeper Phil Mustard - who took 15 balls to get off the mark - would have achieved more than his 17 runs opening the batting.

Under special regulations, coach Peter Moores was able to pick an 11-man team dominated by batsmen for the first half of the match, before putting the bowlers in the field for Sri Lanka's reply.

Though this match was taking place at Colombo's P. Saravanamuttu Stadium - not on the itinerary for the five one-day internationals - the slow pace and low bounce were thought to be indicative of the wickets England will generally be facing.

After the early demise of Mustard, Bell and Cook struggled to score above four runs an over in unison, but they did lay a platform for a final onslaught by adding 89 until Cook (66) drove to long-on to make it 122-2 in the 29th over.

Pietersen's power-hitting lifted the run rate in the later overs

The wicket brought Pietersen to the crease and he wasted no time in making an impression - hitting 17 runs off an over to score his half-century from just 29 balls.

More quick runs came from Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah, but it was Bell's outstanding effort - on the back of his 422 runs at 70.33 in the home series against India - which gave cause for greatest cheer.

England's last 50 runs came up off just 23 balls, the final deluge of runs coming after Bell had been dropped on 88 - the only chance he gave.

After the interval, the tourists gave the new ball to Ryan Sidebottom rather than Broad - despite the success enjoyed by the Broad-Anderson partnership against India.

The hunch paid off though when Sidebottom struck with the first ball of his second over.

And though Anderson was a little expensive early on, he took the big wicket of Avishka Gunawardene, the home team's skipper with 61 one-day internationals behind him.

Sri Lanka were repairing the early damage when Broad caught and bowled Indika de Saram - to add to two earlier catches off other bowlers - and Collingwood removed Thilina Kandamby.

That left 239 still needed with just six wickets in hand and England were firmly in control, cruising to victory despite bowling an unnecessary 16 wides.

Both Wright and Dimitri Mascarenhas will be sweating on selection come Monday, however, after neither was asked to bat or bowl.

Played at P.Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo, on 28 September 2007 (50-over match)

Result England XI won by 80 runs