Ian Bell's century steers England to tour win

First Twenty20 International: Australia v England
Venue: Adelaide Date: Wednesday, 12 January Start time: 0835 GMT
Coverage: Test Match Special on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and the BBC Sport website; also live on Sky Sports 1

Tour match, Canberra:
England 225-3 (33.3 overs) beat Prime Minister's XI 254-9 (43 overs) by seven wickets (D/L Method)
Match scorecard

Bell struck a wonderful 124 off 102 balls as England continued their winning ways

An unbeaten century from opener Ian Bell led England to a seven-wicket win in a rain-affected one-day match against the Prime Minister's XI.

Bell continued his superb Ashes form with 124 off 102 balls as England eased to a revised total of 223, after the home side had posted 254-9 in Canberra.

Jonathan Trott, batting at number three, added a useful 48.

Earlier, Michael Yardy and Ajmal Shazhad were the pick of the England bowlers, taking three wickets each.

The match, which featured only four of the successful Ashes-winning Test side, enabled a number of players to stake their claim for selection for the first Twenty20 international against Australia, which takes place on Wednesday in Adelaide.

Warwickshire right-hander Bell, who has not played a Twenty20 for his country since June 2008, impressed in an unfamiliar opening role in the absence of the rested Andrew Strauss.

Bell's typically fluent and attractive innings ensured England remained above the required run-rate, as they chased down their revised target.

"I feel in good form," said Bell. "I just want to keep working hard now.

"It's not a matter of I've done it and I just want to sit back. There's a lot of hard work to do.

"I want to be part of this team - Test cricket and one-day cricket - for a long time."

Paul Collingwood, the Twenty20 captain, said Bell would be considered for a call-up.

"That was a very clinical innings and he has staked his claim. We'll have to gauge things tomorrow and come up with a plan," said Collingwood.

Bell was ably assisted by Steven Davies (24) in an opening stand of 82 and, more significantly Trott, with whom he added 98.

606: DEBATE Yardy worries me a little as he seemed to get "found out" by the Australians towards the end of the ODI series a few months ago , will be interesting to see how he goes here rich1uk

Bell offered only one real chance to the home side during his innings but Callum Ferguson dropped the catch off the bowling of Trent Copeland.

Not even a 30-minute rain delay, shortly after Bell had reached 50, could halt his momentum and he brought his century up from 89 balls.

Pietersen - another player hoping for a recall in the short-form of the game, after he was dropped for the recent one-day series with Pakistan - was the fourth member of the Test side seeking to make his mark.

He added 13 late on, before he was out lbw to Brett Lee, leaving Bell to fittingly strike the winning boundary.

Earlier, there was a somewhat rusty display from the England bowling attack, which included new arrivals Chris Woakes, Luke Wright, James Tredwell and Yardy.

It was the latter who emerged with the best figures of 3-33 in an innings that began almost an hour late because of rain.

Initially, Shazhad and Woakes struggled for rhythm and were wayward as captain Tim Paine and Usman Khawaja amassed an opening stand of 75 before the latter was caught and bowled by Tredwell for 22.

Yardy then came to the fore with a double breakthrough as he claimed the key wicket of Paine (50) and Alex Keath (15) with almost identical lbw decisions.

Shazhad bowled Ferguson - who made 39 - before Yardy claimed a third wicket when Tom Thornton offered a return catch, as the hosts stumbled to 179 for five.

However, some clean hitting from Dan Christian got the innings back on track before he was caught by Pietersen off Shazhad for 53.

Woakes returned and claimed two wickets - Sam Miller caught by Collingwood and James Pattinson caught by Wright - and Shazhad bowled Xavier Doherty, but Brett Lee's unbeaten 26 ensured a competitive total.