Vaughan satisfied with team progress

Michael Vaughan and Mahela Jayawardene share a joke at the launch of the Test series © AFP

England's opening match of their Sri Lanka tour may have petered out to a tame and predictable draw, but within a matter of hours came a reminder that the real action is only just around the corner. The official launch of the Test series took place this evening at the team's hotel in Colombo, in scenes that bore a closer resemblance to Monsoon Wedding than any sort of cricket gathering.

Colombo's daily cloudburst may have held off long enough to allow a full day's play, but when it arrived it arrived with a vengeance. The thoughts of the captains, Michael Vaughan and Mahela Jayawardene, and the various SLC dignitaries on show, were accompanied by the din of cascading water on the thatched roof of a picturesque if somewhat impractical garden pavilion. It was not the ideal omen for such an eagerly awaited contest.

For Jayawardene it has been a trying month. He returned earlier this week from Australia, where the pleasure of a maiden Test century against Australia couldn't distract from the disappointment of a 2-0 series defeat, nor from the Muppets controversy that dogged his side's every press conference. It hardly helped that he was addressed as "Marvan" for the first question of the evening, although he rode out the faux pas with customary good grace.

Sri Lanka did have a silver lining to their Australia trip in the form of Kumar Sangakkara's heroic 192 at Hobart, an innings that brought his side improbably close to a record-breaking win. But in the four days prior to that they had managed to take just seven out of 20 Australian wickets, and only four in the previous game at Brisbane. "We're not playing to our potential as yet," said Jayawardene. "We need to work harder and make sure we are more consistent with our performances."

A significant reason for Sri Lanka's lack of penetration was the subdued performance of Muttiah Muralitharan. A reluctant tourist after his past experiences in Australia, he took 4 for 400 in the entire series, which means that he missed out on the chance to break Shane Warne's world record in his own back yard. He needs just five English scalps to set a new benchmark of 709 Test wickets, and though Vaughan claimed to have given the prospect no thought as yet, he was confident that the feat would be achieved at some stage in the coming series.

Of more pressing concern to England's captain was the form of his own spinners, Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann, who managed just two expensive wickets between them in this week's warm-up. "Yesterday I'd have said they were disappointing, but having batted on that wicket, I can understand exactly why the spinners were going at four an over," said Vaughan. "It was a really flat pitch and really difficult to keep any batsman quiet. But the longer the spells the better they got, especially Monty, who was starting to get back to what he was in the summer."

The same encouraging noises can't yet be made for Steve Harmison. He was limited to just six overs after his bowling boots went missing in Dubai Airport, and though he stated his determination to fight for his England place, Vaughan could offer no assurances that he'd be given a further chance ahead of the first Test. "There were signs of promise and his two weeks in South Africa have been very productive for him," Vaughan demurred. "He'll be hoping to play [on Sunday] and get some more overs under his belt."

For all that the opening fixture ended in stalemate, Vaughan was pleased with the performances of his batsmen, and satisfied that he had picked up some pointers about the form men in his bowling attack. "We were able to gauge quite a bit to be honest," he said. "It was a flat wicket and one which all of the batsmen enjoyed playing on, but we're a little bit closer to finalising the eleven that we feel are the best for the Test, but there's another game to go and another opportunity for people to try and impress in that three-day match."

"We're excited about this series, because Sri Lanka is always a good place to come and tour," said Vaughan. "We've learned a lot about ourselves and the conditions we're going to have to play in."