Ben Stokes among wickets as England warm-up finally gets underway

Ben Stokes was England's most-successful bowler as the Brisbane rains finally relented, allowing the tourists their most significant warm-up action since arriving in Australia.

Stokes claimed 2 for 31 from 10 overs in his first red-ball outing since appearing for Durham in July, as an England Lions XI batted through the scheduled third day at Ian Healy Oval. Three batters retired their innings not out in order to give others an opportunity, with Liam Norwell and captain Joe Root the other England XI bowlers to take wickets.

Both sides featured 13 players, with Alex Lees captaining the Lions. Lees and Zak Crawley batted through the first session against a potential Test attack of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach and Stokes, with Saqib Mahmood also involved for England.

Lees was first to retire, before Stokes struck to remove Crawley, the top-scorer for the Lions XI with 45. Dan Lawrence did not last long, removed by Norwell for 1, but Ollie Pope spent some time in the middle before falling to Root's offspin.

James Bracey and Tom Abell kept the bowlers at bay before retiring not out, and Stokes claimed his second wicket when dismissing Chris Woakes late on.

Following four straight days of washed-out practice across two fixtures in Brisbane, England managed to get through 78 overs, with Anderson bowling eight, Broad 11 and Robinson 12, while Leach also went wicketless from his 18 overs.