Ben Stokes marked his return to one-day internationals with a half-century before captain Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone put on a rapid stand of 77 late in the innings to help push England to 291-6 against New Zealand in the first match of the Cricket World Cup warmup series on Friday.
Stokes (52) opted to come out of ODI retirement ahead of England's World Cup title defense in India starting next month and was one of four batters to post fifties on a tough track at Sophia Gardens.
Another was Dawid Malan (54), who was part of an emergency opening partnership with Harry Brook (25) because of injuries to Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy. Brook has been controversially left out of England’s World Cup squad and is staking a claim for a late call-up.