Liam Dawson took three wickets in ten balls before James Vince hit a quickfire 26 as England warmed up for their T20 tri-series against Australia and New Zealand by demolishing a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra.

The home side were billed as the PM’s strongest line-up in years, boasting 239 international caps between them, but were brushed aside by eight wickets as the tourists raced home with 44 balls remaining.

Dawson finished with 3-16 as the home side was restricted to 136-8.

The slow left-armer caught and bowled Kurtis Patterson(11), bowled Peter Handscomb slog-sweeping for 43 and then had Daniel Hughes (11) stumped.

David Willey starred with ball and bat.

Having taken 3-32, he hammered Nathan Lyon’s first five balls for six in the sixth over of the chase, falling just short of a maximum haul when he stroked the final delivery for four.

The Yorkshire all-rounder has never batted higher than seven for England but has plenty of domestic experience at the top of the order and finished with 79 from 36 balls.

He opened with James Vince, who got the chase going by smashing the final ball of Gurinder Sandhu’s first over for six.

Then Willey milked Lyon’s first visit for nine, with little hint of the brutality to come.

England were 49 after five overs when Willey unleashed 6-6-6-6-6-4.

The first ball disappeared straight down the ground, the second over wide long-on and the next two climbed over long-off.

Even the home support cheered as Willey flogged the fifth ball on to the grass bank at mid-wicket, before finish with four through the covers.

Spinner Mitchell Swepson eventually dismissed both batsmen, Vince bowled for a 14-ball 26 (three fours, one six) and Willey held in the deep.