England enjoy valuable work-out

Scorecard

England's batsmen enjoyed a serene afternoon of batting practice as their opening warm-up match against a Sri Lanka Board President's XI meandered to a predictable draw. Of the eight batsmen who made it to the crease, only Kevin Pietersen missed out on some valuable time in the middle. Nuwan Kulasekara surprised him with some unexpected bounce, and Chamara Kapugedera claimed a simple catch in the gully.

With just one more game to come before the first Test at Kandy, England's innings contained four retirements and just one other wicket, that of Michael Vaughan, who played across the line to a quicker delivery from the legspinner Malinga Bandara, and was given out lbw for 38. Up until that point, Vaughan had looked in fine touch, as he and Alastair Cook launched their new opening partnership with a 77-run stand for the first wicket.

In a possible sign of things to come, it was the younger man Cook who faced the first over from Nuwan Kulasekara - a significant development because, remarkably, neither he nor Vaughan, who was Marcus Trescothick's regular opening partner from 2002 to 2004, have ever taken first strike in a Test match.

Vaughan's last stint as an England opener came in a one-off scenario in Lahore in 2005-06, when Andrew Strauss flew home for paternity leave, and Cook made his debut in England's next Test at Nagpur three months later. The new circumstances didn't faze either player, however, and Vaughan looked especially fluent with seven fours coming from his favoured pulls and cover drives.

Cook eased to his fifty from 80 deliveries in a measured innings that included seven fours - the pick of which was a firm cover drive off Kulasekara. England went to lunch on 130 for 1, whereupon Cook became the first of England's retirees. Pietersen replaced him after the break, but had time to face just 14 deliveries before Kulasekara squared him up with the ball of the day.

Ian Bell, in his customary manner, took his time to assess the conditions, but once set he started to unfurl his full range of strokes including a sweetly struck six over long-off, off the bowling of the slow left-armer Rangana Herath. He made 49 from 98 balls before making way for Owais Shah, and 12 overs later, Paul Collingwood - who was dropped at gully on 26 - retired on 52 from 69 balls, having signalled his satisfaction by heaving Bandara for consecutive sixes over midwicket.

Shah and Ravi Bopara, two batsmen who are effectively competing for the same No. 6 position, then carried England to tea, although Shah was lucky not to be caught at deep midwicket as he clipped loosely at Herath. Thereafter the pair became somewhat entrenched as each strived not to be outdone by the other, and England's run-rate - though inconsequential - slowed appreciably.

Shah was eventually called back to the marquee having made 38 from 75 balls with three fours, and though the rains threatened after tea they held off for the first time in the match, which allowed Matt Prior to join Bopara and see England through to the close. All in all there was little to guage from the batting performance, but England will be all the better prepared after an arduous three days' work.