Dubai, Jan 11: Captain Andrew Strauss hit a fluent 78 before seeing his England side scrape a three-wicket win over a side made up of players from international cricket's second tier on Monday.
Chasing 261 for victory in the three-day match against an ICC XI made up of players from Scotland, Ireland, Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates and Namibia, England was reduced to 199-6 before scrambling home.
"There is plenty for us to work on and we are not going to pretend it was perfect by any means," Strauss said. "If we are honest our batting in the first innings should have been better but hopefully we will be much better for these three days.
"We have seen a lot, experienced a lot and hopefully we can take that into our next game."
Top-ranked England plays a three-day match against a Pakistan Cricket Board XI starting Wednesday before the three-test series against Pakistan begins Jan. 17.
Strauss was pleased with the bowling of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who took six wickets in his first match since injuring his right shoulder in September
However, there were also second failures in the match for batsmen Kevin Pietersen (1) and Eoin Morgan (3) on Monday.
The ICC XI sensed an unlikely win when Morgan and Ian Bell (39) were dismissed in quick succession to leave England in 199-6, only for Steven Davies (37 not out) and Broad (31) to calm fraying nerves with a stand of 61 that took England to the brink of victory.
