England win lone practice match ahead of India one-day series

Calcutta, January 17: Nasser Hussain's English tourists warmed up for the six-match one-day series against India with an easy victory in their lone practice match here on Thursday.

England bowled out a Bengal XI for 150 in 42.3 overs and then scored 219-2 in 34 overs in a game that featured the entire 15-strong touring team.

Paul Collingwood and Darren Gough, who missed the Test tour of India late last year, struck form by taking three and two wickets respectively.

Bengal captain Rohan Gavaskar, son of Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar, was his team's top-scorer with 27.

When England batted, they were allowed to continue their innings even after overtaking Bengal's meagre total.

Michael Vaughan (34), Nick Knight (49) and Owais Shah (40) gained useful batting practice before they were retired to give others a chance.

Graham Thorpe, who returned home midway through the Test tour because of marital problems, made 29. Andrew Flintoff hit 36.

The first match of the series will be played at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday.

The remaining five games will be held in Cuttack (January 22), Madras (Jan 25), Kanpur (Jan 28), Delhi (Jan 31) and Bombay (February 3).

In the first part of the tour played before Christmas, England lost the three-Test series 1-0.