Rain delays England's fightback

Play has been called off for the day at a drizzly Southampton, stalling Andrew Flintoff and Marcus Trescothick's progress towards a competitive total. They had put on an unbeaten 48 when persistent light rain turned into a full downpour, and the players left the field in the 32nd over. A pitch inspection scheduled for 2.50pm had to be called off when the rain, which had eased off, returned. With no break in the bad weather, the umpires had no choice but to postpone England's first innings until tomorrow.

Michael Vaughan could count himself lucky that his team had only lost three wickets by the 30-over mark as Sri Lanka's slipshod fielding let England off the hook on more than one occasion. Both of England's not-out batsmen, Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Flintoff, have already been dropped when they were still on single figures.

Vikram Solanki started positively, slapping four fours in his 18, but Farveez Maharoof, who finished a 10-over spell with figures of 1 for 19, struck back with an inswinging ball that took the inside edge of Solanki's bat on its way through to Kumar Sangakkara (29 for 1).

But Vaughan himself had another shocker as - his 74 against India in the last NatWest Challenge game at Lord's notwithstanding - his poor one-day form continued. Vaughan moved too far to the offside in an effort to counter Nuwan Zoysa's prodigious swing, but his plan backfired as Zoysa fired in a straight ball to knock back middle stump (44 for 2).

Andrew Strauss struggled to score on the seamer-friendly wicket, and was lucky to survive as long as he did, with an uncontrolled hook just evading Sanath Jayasuriya's outstretched arms at midwicket. Clearly frustrated, Strauss took on Maharoof's arm, and was caught inches short when Sangakkara whipped the bails off (70 for 3).

That was one of the only bright pieces of fielding from the Sri Lankans, and the third miss came when Flintoff had scored only a single. Driving at a length delivery from Vaas, he got a thick edge to Mahela Jayawardene at first slip, but a simple chance went down.

At the other end, Trescothick went to his fifty, from 74 balls, with a flick to midwicket off Upul Chandana. As the grey clouds started to roll in, and a thin veil of drizzle covered the ground, Flintoff got going with a powerful sweep for four that almost hit Umpire Billy Bowden as it flew towards the boundary. He followed that up by lofting Jayasuriya's first ball over midwicket.

England's first appearance at the Rose Bowl could turn into a damp squib if the weather forecasters are right. Although the day started bright, a belt of rain is forecast to sweep across southern Britain during the morning, and while things should improve later, it seems odds-on that the game will spill over into a second day.

With the toss even more important than usual at this time of year, Sri Lanka gained a distinct advantage when Marvan Atapattu called correctly and had no hesitation in putting England in to bat.

England 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Vikram Solanki, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Andrew Strauss, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Geraint Jones (wkt), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Alex Wharf, 10 Darren Gough, 11 Steve Harmison.

Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Avishka Gunawardene, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 4 Saman Jayantha, 5 Kumar Sangakkara (wkt), 6 Mahela Jayawardene, 7 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 8 Upul Chandana, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Farveez Maharoof, Nuwan Zoysa.