ENGLAND emerged unruffled and unscathed from their first encounter with Chinese football yesterday.

Their hosts played well enough for England to be tested but an, upset rarely looked likely. By the end, with England in easy control, the 65,000 crowd had turned on their own team, chanting "dismiss" and cheering every England move.

It was a sweet sound for Terry Venables, whose preference for an Asian tour was justified by the way his team handled a potentially difficult fixture. Nick Barmby scored twice and Paul Gascoigne once. Neither had previously scored under Venables, Barmby had never done so for England while Gascoigne's last goal was in 1993.

Equally important was the successful return of Tony Adams, who played 76 minutes before allowing Ugo Ehiogu a first taste of international football. Alongside him Gareth Southgate looked as polished a conventional central defender as he had done in the free role on Saturday.

With a composed debut from Phil Neville and excellent performances from Gascoigne and Darren Anderton it was no wonder Venables looked delighted at the end.

This match was supposed to give Barmby enough rope to play himself out the squad his club form has been abysmal he had not scored since January and he had rarely looked like doing so.

When, after 23 minutes he failed to convert a chance created by Gascoigne, heads nodded and Barmby's looked about to roll. He had been busy but largely ineffective. Seven minutes later Anderton drifted past his man and slipped a pass to Barmby. He drew the goalkeeper, steered the ball past him, but hit the post. Even fate seemed against him.

Then his fortune turned. The ball rebounded back into his path and, though it came at a difficult height, he scored with aplomb. The confidence flowed back into his game and, eight minutes after halftime, he added an exquisite second, chipping the goalkeeper after a sweeping passing move between Gary Neville, Anderton and Gascoigne. There followed a cross from which McManaman almost converted and, by the time he gave way to Beardsleye was back in the 22.

He could even have had a hat trick but decided against poaching Gascoigne's goal. Judging by the way Gascoigne celebrated it was a good job he did not. Gascoigne's joy was deserved he had an excellent game and his 62nd minute goal was cheekily taken with the outside of his foot following a classy one two with Anderton.