Jade Dernbach enjoyed an promising return to England's senior limited-overs squad in Friday's seven-wicket win over the England Lions in Abu Dhabi.

While the overall result proved rather contrived and one-sided, with Alastair Cook's men successfully chasing down a revised 231-run target with 4.1 overs to spare, England benefited from a string of solid individual performances ahead of their four-match ODI series against Pakistan.

Dernbach and fellow right-arm seamer Steven Finn took three wickets apiece, the fit-again Tim Bresnan put in five overs free of discomfort, Kevin Pietersen's obliged to the tune of a fluid 41 in his promotion to the top of the knock and Jonathan Trott and Alastair Cook scored a half-century each.

The final result, however, was somewhat of a manufactured affair. With James Taylor's men skittled for 97, both teams agreed that 230 would be a more fitting pursuit, thus forfeiting the fixture's List A's status. Regardless, Dernbach insisted it was an ideal outing ahead of the four ODIs and three T20Is against Misbah-ul-Haq's team.

"It was a nice way to start, to set the tone - and that's a job we need to do in this series to be successful. I hope it can continue," said Dernbach.

"The aim in any one-day cricket is to take early wickets. You're giving yourself the best possible opportunity of slowing down the scoring rate. If we can keep doing that on a game-to-game basis, we'll be okay.

"It was just important we got used to the conditions, for guys who might not have played at this stadium before. Playing in the heat is always going to help to get the boys accustomed. So I think today was perfect for the guys.

"The aim of this match was to get a run-out with all the boys together as a team, especially out here with the conditions. Then to get a victory like that is obviously impressive."

Recently in Australia with the Melbourne Stars for the Big Bash League and then with the Lions in Sri Lanka, the globetrotting Dernbach looked forward to the task awaiting him in the United Arab Emirates.

"I've just come off the Lions, so got a few overs out there. So this match was the icing on the cake, to get a few wickets," he added.

"It's going to be slightly different here, but spending a bit of time in the sub-continent is not going to do me any harm - getting that experience under my belt and trying to use it in all the best possible situations."

The first ODI gets underway in Abu Dhabi on Monday.