England’s cricketers head to Bangladesh today in a positive frame of mind after the completion of their warm-up tour in the United Arab Emirates.
Paul Collingwood’s men drew their mini-series 1-1 against Pakistan in Dubai, where they played their final Twenty20 matches ahead of the World Twenty20 in April and May.
Stuart Broad excelled both with the ball and in the field in the opening Twenty20 encounter, where he took 2-23 and held three fine catches in what was an excellent victory over the ICC World Twenty20 champions.
Graeme Swann and Tim Bresnan also took two wickets apiece as England restricted Pakistan to 129 off their 20 overs and a superb unbroken partnership of 112 between Eoin Morgan and Kevin Pietersen gave England the platform to ease to victory with nine balls to spare.
Pakistan levelled the series on Saturday with a four-wicket victory after another fine performance from Pietersen had allowed England to post a score of 148-6 from their 20 overs.
The former England skipper hit 62 from just 40 balls, including four fours and three sixes to set the challenging target and Pakistan were struggling on 78-5 with only seven overs remaining.
However, England reckoned without Abdul Razzaq, who entered the fray to spectacular effect by smashing an unbeaten 46 off just 18 balls.
In an exciting display of clean hitting, Razzaq hammered five sixes – including two off debutant Ajmal Shahzad’s last over – to seal Pakistan’s triumph with six balls to spare.
Broad once again finished with economical figures of 1-24 from his four overs and Swann shone with the ball, taking 3-18.
"We've done some fantastic stuff in the last few games and the boys should be very proud," Collingwood said of the warm-up tour.
“We are in a good groove. We will take this form and go into the World Cup with confidence.
"It was a good series. KP (Kevin Pietersen) was brilliant and is back in form now so that is a positive for us."
There is little respite for the England team, as they have just two days before their opening tour match, which is against a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI at the Narayanganj Osmani Stadium in Fatullah.
Keep up to date with the England team at ECB
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