Ian Bell reaped the rewards of his enforced rest to maintain his impressive run of one-day scores and clinch an emphatic victory for England in their warm-up match against a Sri Lankan Board XI.

Despite finishing as man of the series in the stunning victory over India at the end of the season, Warwickshire batsman Bell was overlooked for the ill-fated ICC World Twenty20 campaign in South Africa.

But that fortnight off refreshed Bell, who hit a superb unbeaten 131 off 121 balls to help England reach 314 for four before dismissing the Board XI for 234 to secure an 80-run victory.

It was a timely innings, which included 12 fours and four sixes, with the five-match one-day series against Sri Lanka starting on Monday in Dambulla.

''It was good to go on and get a hundred and I just want to keep doing that in one-day cricket,'' said Bell. ''I'm desperate to do that and it was good to do that here but I realise there is plenty of cricket to come.

''I was obviously disappointed not to go (to the Twenty20), but it was also nice to have a bit of a break from cricket as well.

''I'm now at the point where I'm really looking forward to this series and I'm really full of energy again and I just want to carry on and be involved in a good series.

''Mentally switching off has helped me.''

While Bell was at home, England crashed out of the Twenty20 tournament with only one victory to their name, which made his omission that much harder to bear.

''It's hard work when you're not involved and you're desperate to be there,'' he explained. ''I want to play in all forms of the game for England, but I can understand why I wasn't there and it was good to have a bit of a break as well and switch off from cricket.

''I feel in pretty good form and I wanted to get used to the conditions - I wanted to get used to the heat and the sweat in your helmet and your shirt being soaking so I was ready for the one-day international starting on Monday.''

In addition to England's impressive form with the bat - against opposition including eight full internationals - coach Peter Moores would also have been satisfied with his side's display in the field.

New-ball pair James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom claimed wickets and Stuart Broad, making his first England appearance since being hit for six sixes in an over by Yuvraj Singh during the Twenty20 event, also finished with two victims.

''Everyone has had a good go out there,'' said Bell.

''All the batters have got in and had decent starts and the bowlers have had a couple of spells.

''Ideally we'd have liked a couple of games, but with the schedule after the Twenty20 it's almost impossible to fit another one in. We can now go into the series with everyone having a bit of form under their belt.''