England began their warm-up for the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh in promising style, beating Malaysia by 58 runs at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur. It was a good opening performance given limited practice facilities, with no proper net, a damp used pitch and a wet outfield.

Essex's Ravinder Bopara anchored the tourists' innings, making 77 from 105 balls with five boundaries before he was forced to retire suffering from exhaustion. Three early wickets followed for Liam Plunkett of Durham as Malaysia were bowled out for 139.

Bopara featured in a partnership of 45 for the first wicket with his captain and Essex teammate Alastair Cook, who made 16 before he was bowled by Jayawhardana. The best partnership of the match followed as Bopara and Leicestershire's Luke Wright put on 84.

A mini-collapse followed, with five wickets going down for 22 runs, including Samit Patel, James Hildreth and Plunkett for ducks. But Adam Harrison (26) and Steven Davies (17) saw the total to the brink of the 200 mark before England were dismissed from 44.1 overs.

With most of the England seamers striking a reasonable rhythm, Malaysian wickets fell steadily with the notable exception of Gopinah, who took the first ball of the innings and carried his bat throughout, with 72 of 134 balls.

Support was in short supply though, with Muniandy (12) the only other batsman to reach double figures in a sixth wicket partnership of 46. Plunkett (three for 24) was supported by his Durham teammate Mark Turner, Yorkshire's David Stiff and Patel of Notts, who took two wickets each.

REPORT FROM ECB WEBSITE, www.ecb.co.uk

PHOTO; YORKSHIRE'S DAVID STIFF WHO TOOK 2 WICKETS