David Willey hit 34 off a Nathan Lyon over as England stormed to victory at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.
England won the toss and chose to bowl first.
England bowled very well and the PMXI lost both openers for single-figure scores.
The ship steadied slightly by Peter Handscomb who scored a nice 43, the highest score in the PMXI innings.
The batsmen then came and went some making good starts but not going on to make the vital score to help power them towards a par score.
Towards the end, Gurinder Sandhu (19) and Seb Gotch (22) tried to get to the highest possible total they could muster.
After the 20 overs, the PMXI made 136/8 with Nathan Lyon and Sean Abbott not out, setting England 137 to win.
The England innings started with a bang.
They opened with Hampshire batsman James Vince and Yorkshire all-rounder David Willey.
James Vince hit the first six of the England innings, but then it was Willey’s time to shine.
Usually batting down the order, David Willey showed that he should be further up the order.
His extraordinary over against Nathan Lyon consisted of five sixes in a row with the crowd booing when he couldn’t make it six sixes when he hit a four to end the over. That over by itself went for 34 runs.
Vince was the first England wicket to fall bowled by Mitchell Swepson who was the only wicket-taker for the PMXI side.
Dawid Malan then came to the crease and played the supporting role to allow David Willey to continue his onslaught of the Australian bowlers.
However, David Willey was dismissed for 79 from 36 balls off the bowling of Swepson.
England skipper Eoin Morgan then came to the crease and scored the winning runs with a four leaving him eight not out and Dawid Malan 21*.
A big win for England with 45 balls to spare. Ideal preparation for the T20 tri-series against Australia and New Zealand.
Eoin Morgan was pleased with his team’s performance today and the confidence his team showed. He didn’t, however, play down the importance of hard work.
He said: “Confidence isn’t something that comes easily. You have to work hard.”
He was also impressed with the bowler’s performance.
“All the bowlers did pretty well today,” said Morgan.
“We are all proud of our performance today.”
Man of the Match David Willey admits it was nice to be pushed up the order and be able to free arms instead of being closer to the tail-enders.
“It’s nice to get to hit a few. I’m usually scratching around at the end.”
England’s first match in the tri-series is n Wednesday 7th February at the Blundstone Arena in Hobart.
