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Jamie Dalrymple made his best score in an England shirt as England averted an embarrassing situation against Bermuda in their first World Cup warm-up.

Dalrymple hit 76 on a sluggish wicket here at St Vincent after England, who won the toss, were 132-5 at one stage. England’s best two batsmen were dismissed by a 20-stone policeman as Bermuda put England’s batsmen under serious pressure in St Vincent.

Dwayne Leverock had Paul Collingwood caught and Kevin Pietersen stumped. Pietersen (43) and Ian Bell (46) put on 71 for the third wicket but the rest of England’s top five all failed. They included skipper Michael Vaughan, out for 18 opening the batting.

After Ed Joyce had been bowled by a gentle yorker in the third over, Vaughan had hit some good shots in reaching 18. But, attempting a third boundary in as many balls, he picked out Glamorgan’s David Hemp at square leg with an attempted pull that went wrong.

Under the rules of the warm-ups, 13 players can contest a match with 11 of them batting and 11 in the field at any one time. When Vaughan named his starting line-up, there was no place for Andrew Strauss. He had played 74 successive ODIs for England, but endured some poor form in Australia. Ravi Bopara was the other member of the 15-man squad to miss out, with all four seamers fit to stake their claims.

Some observers had been concerned that the pitch might be difficult to bat on, but in the event the ball came on well early on, until the spinners slowed things down. The early exchanges were a triumph for Kevin Hurdle, a 30-year-old who produced the balls that removed both England’s openers.

But, with Bell and Pietersen soon finding their range in a stand of 71, there seemed little cause for alarm. That all changed when Bell was well held at short mid-wicket off an attempted pull. Leverock, bowling slow left-arm, had Collingwood caught behind cheaply – though umpire Rudi Koertzen looked to have erred in giving the batsman out.

There was no doubt about the wicket of Pietersen, though, who was stumped as he wandered down the wicket. It was turning into a big day for the rank outsiders at the World Cup, and they had more opportunity to celebrate when Andrew Flintoff (24) holed out at deep mid-wicket.

He and Dalrymple had at least added a vital 54 and Dalrymple went on to smack consecutive sixes off Delyone Borden. The short boundaries allowed a late flurry of scoring to ensure a total that was expected to be well out of range for Bermuda.

Source:The News

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