A sound bowling display, a contrived piece of administration and some decent batting saw Alastair Cook's men manufacture a win over the England Lions in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

Whitewashed three-nil in the Tests and desperately in need of an extended stay at the crease ahead of the limited-overs series against Pakistan, a 98-run pursuit is not what England would have wanted.

Steven Finn and Jade Dernbach shared six wickets, while Tim Bresnan made a successful, injury-free return to topflight action as James Taylor's team floundered to 97 all out. There wasn't much spite in the pitch and the Lions, who gave their countrymen a good run for their money in first-class competition prior to the Test series, couldn't replicate that form in the one-day game.

Taylor and Chris Woakes, the two second-stringers knocking at the first-team door the hardest, tucked in for 30 and 32 respectively, but the rest were largely inadequate.

With James Anderson and Stuart Broad rested, Finn and Dernbach will pleased to have performed in the senior stars' absence. Both men seem certain selections come the opening one-dayer, which starts at the same venue on Monday.

Understandably unhappy with the modest nature of the target, England approached their countrymen for a compromise. Both teams subsequently agreed that a chase of 230 was a more fitting contest.

With the target increased and the match's List A status forfeited, England might have afforded Craig Kieswetter and Samit Patel promotion up the order.

Instead, though, they wanted more time out in the middle for the men that let them down in the Tests.

Alastair Cook duly tucked into a comfortable knock of 68, while Kevin Pietersen's return to the top of the order succeeded to the tune of a solid 41. Jonathan Trott later moved to 75 not out, while Ravi Bopara's 36 was a fluent effort in a triumph that arrived with 4.1 overs to spare.

Left-arm spinner Danny Briggs, set to join the senior squad straight after the match, and seamer Woakes, still waiting in the wings, walked away with the wicket of Cook and Pietersen respectively. Leg-spinner Scott Borthwick, overlooked for Briggs, gathered some consolation with the belated dismissal of Bopara.