The rain brought proceedings in Dambulla to a hold, before the fixture was eventually abandoned between Sri Lanka and England in the first of the five-match ODI series.
England got off to a flying start after the home country inserted the visiting Englishmen to bat first. Jason Roy (24 off 27 balls, four fours) and Jonny Bairstow (25 off 24 balls, four fours, one six) put together an opening stand of 49 runs before Bairstow was dismissed driving outside off-stump by pacer Nuwan Pradeep. Roy followed Bairstow to the pavilion in the next over and England found themselves reduced to 51-2 in the blink of an eye.
England ODI captain Eoin Morgan joined Test captain Joe Root at the crease and the two continued from where the dismissed openers left off, scoring runs quickly to take the visitors to 92-2 in just 15 overs. Root played well for his 25 not out off 28 balls (four fours) but it was Morgan who was most eager to attack the Sri Lankan bowlers, accumulating 14 runs off 11 balls, including a four and a six.
It was at this point that the rain came down and ground the game to a halt. A steady shower fell for a few hours before the sun came out once more and the covers came off. After several inspections, the match was abandoned by officials due to a wet outfield.
Fans will be wishing the monsoon-season rains stay away when Sri Lanka and England face off once again in the same venue on Friday for the second ODI.
Photo: Sri Lanka Cricket/Twitter
