England defeat minnows Canada

England came embarrassingly close to a shock defeat against World Cup minnows Canada in their opening warm-up match at the Khan Shahed Osman Ali Stadium in Bangladesh today.



However, England hold on to win by 16 runs after setting Canada a victory target of 244 runs.



Batting first after winning the toss, England were dismissed in 49.4 overs for 243 against the bowling of Harvir Baidwan three for 50 and Khurram Chohan three for 34.



Matt Prior 78 and Jonathan Trott 57 scored half centuries for England.



It seemed Canada had no chance in reply to 243 all out, after Stuart Broad, five for 39 and Ajmal Shahzad reduced them to 28 for five.



However, Rizwan Cheema then hammered 93 from 73 balls and Khurram Chohan 44 from 74 deliveries to keep Canada in the game. However, once they departed, England seized back the initiative.



In another warm up game, hosts India defeated New Zealand by 117 runs in Chennai. India batted first and posted a massive 360 for five and then restricted New Zealand to 243 off 43.1 overs.