Callum Flynn’s half-century helped England Physical Disability make a winning start to their tour of United Arab Emirates.
After three days on tour, the players were raring to go and responded with a nine-run win over local side Golden Warriors in a 20-over contest.
Flynn’s 54-ball 51 underpinned a total of 130 for five, and Steven Braithwaite then took 2-18 to help restrict Golden Warriors to 121 for eight.
The match allowed head coach Chris Ellison to experiment with his line-up, and a tidy display with both bat and ball represented a good warm-up ahead of the upcoming series against Pakistan.
After winning the toss and deciding to bat, England vice-captain, Iain Nairn - who took the reins today in Jimmy Williams' absence - opened with Hampshire's Alex Hammond.
Hammond was caught at gully in the third over, but Nairn and Flynn then added 71 from 70 balls before the former tried to reverse sweep a straight ball and was bowled for 33.
Flynn continued with the form that he has consistently shown while in England colours, and despite losing Gordon Laidlaw for four, made his way to a well constructed half-century before finally falling to a miss-timed tired drive.
In reply, the Warriors got off to a slow start and a breakthrough wasn't long in coming when man-of-the-match Braithwaite trapped Jay Shah lbw with his first ball, having come into the attack as first change.
The Warriors proceeded to build a decent stand between Faisaal Hussein and Ethan Holmes, which wasn't broken until the 14th over when Holmes was brilliantly caught at long on by Matt Askin for 27.
At this stage however, the Warriors were behind the required run rate and were always chasing the game.
The England bowling and fielding display was a vast improvement on the standard delivered two years ago when the side last toured in the UAE, and all the players looked fitter and more athletic.
The late push for runs by the Warriors put the bowlers and fielders under pressure, but some calm bowling and excellent fielding ensured that the game never got away, and England managed to close the game out.