After early morning showers delayed the start of play by half an hour, Sri Lanka, who won the toss and batted, adopted a cautious approach as they reached 46 for one in 18 overs at lunch with opener Marvan Atapattu on 16 and Kumar Sangakkara not out 26.

A steady shower during the interval abated enough for the ground staff to mop up the damp areas and remove the covers but it was to no avail as a much heavier downpour around 2.30 p.m. drenched the ground, leaving several areas water-logged.

The rain fell steadily for the next hour, and umpires Goaland Greaves and Gary White predictably abandoned play for the rest of the day.

With the hurricane season starting in the Caribbean in June and inclement weather forecast for the next two days, it is doubtful how much play will be possible in the match, which is Sri Lanka’s only tune-up ahead of the first Test starting in St Lucia on Friday.

The lone casualty so far in Sri Lanka’s innings, has been former captain Sanath Jayasuriya, who was run-out for four in the day’s fifth over when he was beaten by David Bernard’s throw to the bowler’s end where Darren Powell deflected the ball onto the stumps.

Afterwards, Sangakkara played positively, hitting four boundaries in his 32-ball knock in 66 minutes on the placid pitch and slow outfield.

Atapattu was his usual solid self even though he failed to hit a boundary during the 95 minutes of play.

Powell was the most impressive of the three fast bowlers, who are vying for a place on the West Indies Test team, beating Atapattu a couple of times, outside the off-stump.

Tino Best, who shared the new ball with Powell, maintained a decent line in his four overs and the only alarm off his bowling was when he induced an edge from Atapattu between third slip and gully and forced Sangakkara to dig out a yorker.

Teenager Jerome Taylor, after his impressive One-Day debut on Wednesday, was steady in his five overs but all three of the bowlers were unable to generate any real pace from a batsman-friendly pitch.

SRI LANKA first innings
M.Atapattu not out 16

S.Jayasuriya run-out 4

K.Sangakkara not out 26

Total: (1 wicket, 18 overs) 46

Fall of wickets: 1-7.

Bowling: Powell 6-3-11-0, Best 4-0-10-0, Taylor 5-0-15-0, Bernard 2-0-9-0,

Mohammed 1-0-1-0.

President’s XI - *D.Ganga (captain), D.Smith, D.Bravo, R.Hinds, N.Deonarine, D.Bernard, +C.Baugh, D.Mohammed, T.Best, D.Powell, J.Taylor.