Bell hits ton as England impress

Tour Match, Colombo: Sri Lanka Cricket XI v England

Ian Bell hit a century for England as they warmed up for the one-day series in Sri Lanka, starting on Monday, with a good batting performance in Colombo.

Against a Sri Lanka XI full of players with international caps, Bell featured in productive stands with Alastair Cook (66) and Kevin Pietersen (66).

England started off slowly, epitomised by newcomer Phil Mustard taking 15 balls to get off the mark.

But they accelerated well in the final 20 overs on a slow batting wicket.

Importantly, England's squad were all fit after a stomach virus had laid low various members of the touring party.

Captain Paul Collingwood, Stuart Broad, Luke Wright, plus Cook and Pietersen had all fallen ill shortly after their arrival in the country.

Mustard had not been on one of those to catch the bug, though he looked ill at ease in his first start for a full England XI.

Perhaps frustrated at his inability to score at his usual healthy strike rate, he eventually attempted to force the pace and was finally caught at mid-on off the left-arm seamer Sujeewa de Silva.

Cook and Bell struggled to score above four runs an over at any stage, but they did lay a platform for a final onslaught by adding 89.

That stand finished when Cook drove to long-on, and Pietersen wasted no time - hitting 17 runs off an over to score his half-century from just 29 balls.

All but one of the 15 members of England's touring party were expected to play some part on Friday in what was very much a practice match.

Source: BBC Sport