James Anderson marked his England return with the wicket of debutant Lahiru Thirimanne, leaving Sri Lanka on 23-1 when rain forced the teams to take an early lunch on day one of the third and final test at the Rose Bowl on Thursday.
Anderson, who was back in the team after a side strain, looked the sharpest of England’s pace bowlers in a truncated morning session and found the edge of the 21-year-old left-hander, who departed for 10 when England captain Andrew Strauss took a sharp catch at slip.
Fellow opener Tharanga Paranavitana was still there on 11, although he survived an umpire review in the fifth over as England thought he had edged Anderson to wicketkeeper Matthew Prior. Kumar Sangakkara (0 not out), back captaining the tourists in place of the injured Tillakaratne Dilshan, faced two balls before a heavy downpour forced the sides off.
Rain had delayed the start of play by 75 minutes before Strauss won the toss and put the Sri Lankans, who are 1-0 down in the series, into bat. There was only 63 minutes of action in the morning session and more rain is forecast for the rest of the day.
