It seems English skipper Jos Buttler has perfectly read the city’s weather and his wishes of getting his bowlers a run-around in the buildup to the ICC World Cup were answered, albeit in a rain-curtailed 37-overs-a-side against Bangladesh.

England used as many as nine bowlers after being asked to bowl on a day that had predictions of moderate to heavy showers towards the later half, and got rewarded instantly as they managed to pack half the Bangladesh side for 153 by 30 overs when rain interrupted proceedings for more than three hours. On return, with a shortened contest at hand, England never lost the intensity and restricted the Bangladeshis for a meagre 188 for 9.

For Bangladesh, Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s crafty 89-ball 74 and opener Tanzid Hasan’s breezy 44-ball 45 were the only notable contributions even as the other batters blew hot and cold on a track that awarded runs on application of technique. Bangladesh, who registered a seven wicket win over Sri Lanka in their opening warmup game, failed to do an encore against the pace-heavy English side.

Left-arm pacer Reece Topley was the pick of the English bowlers, returning 3 for 23 while David Willey and leg-spinner Adil Rashid bagged a couple of scalps each. Sam Curran and Mark Wood also chipped in with a wicket apiece.

In response, England rode on Moeen Ali’s destructive half century after Jonny Bairstow (34 off 21 balls) and Buttler (30 off 15) set the tone with brisk cameos, to power the side to a clinical four wicket victory by DLS method, with 77 balls to spare.

Opening the innings, Bairstow hammered the Bangladesh bowlers for four fours and a six to lay the platform, despite losing his opening partner Dawid Malan (2) cheaply.

Joe Root, coming in at No 3, looked in decent touch for his unbeaten 26 of 40 balls, but going forward into the tournament, his below par strike rate of 65 could haunt the English team management.

However, to Root’s credit, it was the 79-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Moeen, that helping England recover from a mini collapse after the dismissals of Harry Brook (15) and Liam Livingstone (7).

Moeen looked in red hot form during his 39-ball 56, comprising two fours and six sixes, and almost powered England to victory before losing his wicket with the team needing another four runs.

Root ensured he stayed till the end, something which the England management will bear in mind heading into the main tournament, given their hyper-aggressive approach from the other batters.