Heavy showers interrupted the opening day's afternoon session in the test series opener between Sri Lanka and England, forcing the cricketers into the dressing room yesterday.
Batting first after skipper Hashan Tillekeratne won the toss, Sri Lanka was 83 for one when rain disrupted play and washed out one hour of play before tea.
The southern coastal town of Galle has been experiencing heavy rain for the past two weeks, but the showers stopped Monday and allowed the test to start. The game began half an hour late after the ground staff mopped up wet patches in the outfield.
England made one breakthrough after lunch as left-arm spinner Ashley Giles dismissed attacking opener Sanath Jayasuriya for 48, having him caught bat-pad by debutant Paul Collingwood at forward short-leg.
At tea, which was taken while the covers were being removed, opener Marvan Atapattu was batting on 28 and Kumar Sangakkara on four.
Atapattu and Jayasuriya gave Sri Lanka a steady start through their 76-run opening stand, which came off 192 balls in 131 minutes.
Both openers survived an inside edge onto their pads. Atapattu was lucky not to be dismissed for zero when he edged the match's second delivery from pacer Matthew Hoggard toward the stumps, only to see the ball hang precariously in his pad's flap.
Atapattu responded by pulling Hoggard to the square-leg fence in the same over, while left-hander Jayasuriya opened the face of his bat to cut Richard Johnson for four in the sixth over.
Trying to drive Johnson, former skipper Jayasuriya's mistimed shot deflected on to his pads when he was on 12, but England's attack failed to penetrate the openers any further during a defensive morning session.
Jayasuriya then displayed a glimpse of his strokes, hitting eight boundaries in from 110 balls before misreading the spin in a sharp turner from Giles, who gave away seven runs in his three overs.
Seeking to repeat its series win in Sri Lanka two years ago, England suffered a big blow when former skipper Nasser Hussain pulled out through illness.
Hussain, 35, did not line up in the official team photograph and the team management said he was down with a viral infection. Hussain's absence gave Collingwood his first test cap.
England, which has won the past two series, has a 7-3 lead in 12 tests between the two, with two matches drawn.
But Sri Lanka has an awesome record at Galle with a five-test winning sequence giving it six victories in eight tests played here. It has lost just one match here.
Sri Lanka picked debutant pace bowler Dinusha Fernando in the squad after his impressive show in a one-day victory against Michael Vaughan's England side in Dambulla last month.
England's team included spinner Gareth Batty, who plays his second test after being pulled out of the sea by half-a-dozen lifeguards Monday.
Caught in a current, Batty plunged toward sharp rocks in the water, but escaped with minor cuts and bruises.
Australia versus india
Opener Justin Langer would like to see Australia quickly demoralize India's bowlers in the opening cricket test at the Gabba beginning tomorrow.
Langer said yesterday he wants the test series to begin the same way as the World Cup final between the two teams earlier this year. In that match, Australia scored 15 runs off the first over to set up a big win.
Langer said he was asked by Australian assistant coach Tim Nielsen if there was any video footage he'd like shown at the team meeting ahead of the first test.
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