Washout leaves England short of acclimatisation in demanding conditions

England will go into the one-day series against Sri Lanka short of match practice and time to acclimatise after their second warm-up match was abandoned without a ball bowled.

Heavy rain in Colombo left puddles around the ground at the P Sara Oval meaning England couldn't back up Friday's performance where they eased to a 43-run victory on Duckworth-Lewis in a chase truncated by bad light.

The weather could play a part throughout the one-day series as it is the time of the northeast monsoon and there are thunderstorms forecast throughout the week in Dambulla, the venue for the first two ODIs of the five-match series. There are reserve days for the second and fifth matches.

England had hoped to use their second outing against a Board XI to give the remaining members of their squad a run out, but Sam and Tom Curran, Alex Hales and Liam Dawson will now go into the series without any middle time on the tour.

Hales, who seems likely to sit out when the series starts, has not played a match since the end of August because he only has a white-ball county deal with Nottinghamshire.

The Curran brothers will come into consideration for the opening ODI with Sam providing the left-arm angle England are keen for in the attack and was provided with considerable success by David Willey during the summer. Willey was ruled out of this tour with a back injury, giving Sam Curran the chance to stake his claim after making his ODI debut against Australia at Old Trafford.

Tom Curran did not feature for England during the summer due to injury but made an encouraging start to his ODI career on the tours of Australia and New Zealand.

Olly Stone, the uncapped Warwickshire fast bowler, played the opening warm-up match alongside Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and Ben Stokes as England's pace attack. Whichever combination of quicks are selected for the first ODI they are in for a demanding time in energy-sapping conditions which are likely to limit the length of spells.

"A few of the boys did find it difficult getting used to the heat and humidity," Woakes said. "Long spells will probably be few and far between...three or four overs is likely to be the most you'll bowl unless things are going really well.

"Even the back end of overs are going to be difficult. Myself, Mark Wood and Olly Stone spoke about that and four of the first three or four balls felt normal and at the back end it was hard to close out as we were getting tired. That will get better as the tour goes on and we start to adapt."

Woakes is one of the current England players who was part of the previous tour to Sri Lanka in late 2014 where he was the team's leading wicket-taker with 14 scalps. His memories of that trip include the importance of making the most of the new ball - a role Woakes did with distinction on the tour of New Zealand earlier this year before missing all England's white-ball cricket in the home season with injury.

"The new ball is crucial out here. Batters generally come quite hard, they know it's a good time to bat, but the first couple of overs swung a bit last time," Woakes told Sky Sports. "Cutters work quite well out here, you get a bit of grip, but you have to be very accurate. We found that out yesterday, it's all well and good bowling them but you have to get them right. I didn't quite do that yesterday and got dealt with."