England tuned up for next week's Ashes series opener with a comfortable seven-wicket victory over the Cricket Australia Invitational XI in Sydney on Saturday. The tourists dodged showers to claim their first win on their Australian tour, ahead of the first of five Tests against Michael Clarke's Australians in Brisbane on Thursday.
Opener Michael Carberry scored 50 off 71 balls to cement his claims for a second Test cap, after reaching half-centuries in all three warm-up matches and helping England pass a target of 148 with 16.2 overs to spare and just before the onset of heavy rain. England lost the wickets of skipper Alastair Cook (21), Carberry and Kevin Pietersen (6) in their pursuit of the winning target, with Ian Bell hitting the winning runs to remain 33 not out off 30 balls and Jonathan Trott unbeaten on 38.
There were plenty of positives for England ahead of the opening Ashes Test, with backup wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow taking seven catches in the match and proving himself ready to take over from Matt Prior should the first-choice gloveman fail to recover from a torn calf in time for the Brisbane Test.
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