England set Pakistan target of 274

DHAKA: Kevin Pietersen thrived in his new position as opener, hitting a blistering 66 off 78 balls as England renewed their rivalry with Pakistan in a World Cup warm-up on Friday.

Pietersen hit three fours and a six before he was stumped by Kamran Akmal off slow left-armer Abdur Rehman in the 26th over.

England went on to make 273 all out with Paul Collingwood making a timely 65 after a recent poor run of form.

However, captain Andrew Strauss lasted just 11 balls for his five runs before he was clean-bowled by Shoaib Akhtar.

Veteran Akhtar, who was fined by officials on Wednesday for a late night out, finished with figures of one for 62 off his 10 overs which will not help his chances of playing in Pakistan’s World Cup opener against Kenya on Tuesday.

Earlier Pakistan won the toss and elected to field.

Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by 88 runs in the previous warm-up match.

Scoreboard:

England:

A. Strauss b Shoaib Akhtar 5

K. Pietersen st Kamran Akmal b Abdur Rehman 66

J. Trott b Junaid Khan 9

I. Bell st Kamran Akmal b Saeed Ajmal 39

P. Collingwood lbw b Wahab Riaz 65

R. Bopara c Younis Khan b Saeed Ajmal 35

M. Prior c Umar Akmal b Junaid Khan 24

T. Bresnan b Junaid Khan 5

M. Yardy not out 1

S. Broad b Wahab Riaz 0

J. Anderson b Wahab Riaz 4

Extras (lb6, w11, nb3) 20

Total (all out; 49.4 overs) 273

Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Strauss), 2-37 (Trott), 3-117 (Pietersen), 4-134 (Bell), 5-216 (Bopara), 6-261 (Collingwood), 7-267 (Prior), 8-268 (Bresnan), 9-269 (Broad), 10-273 (Anderson)

Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 10-0-62-1 (nb1, w1), Junaid Khan 8-0-44-3, Wahab Riaz 9.4-1-52-3 (nb2, w3), Saeed Ajmal 10-0-50-2 (w2), Abdur Rehman 10-0-52-1, Mohammad Hafeez 2-0-7-0

Toss: Pakistan

Umpires: Billy Doctrove (WIS) and Bruce Oxenford (AUS)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)

Reserve umpire: Steve Davis (AUS)