East London - The rain, which has been following the England touring team around South Africa, returned Wednesday just over half an hour after the lunch interval on the opening day of the two-day match between an SA Invitation XI and the tourists at Buffalo Park here.
The morning session, however, promised much, with a clear, cloudless sky, but shortly before lunch the clouds started building up, the light became rapidly gloomier, and 36 minutes after the interval the heavens opened and play was abandoned for the day.
This was most unfortunate for the tourists, whose batsmen and bowlers are in dire need of play in the middle after a week and a half of inactivity due to the weather.
At lunch England were 97 for three wickets, with Alistair Cook having played a solid innings of 46 at that stage.
Andrew Strauss and Cook opened the innings after England won the toss but Strauss, following a Charl Pietersen delivery, was caught behind the wicket for a single.
Jonathan Trott started off well, hitting a four off the first ball he faced, but his dismissal was a carbon copy of Strauss after he had scored 11 at 22 for two wickets.
Kevin Pietersen came in to face his namesake, and after taking a few minutes to gauge the pace of the wicket, he began to produce some good strokes. He and Cook added 69 attractive runs at a run a minute, with Pietersen being the junior partner in the partnership having scored 25.
Just before lunch he was out driving firmly to medium-pacer David Wiese of Easterns, who latched onto the ball to take a fine caught and bowled - a wicket he will no doubt treasure.
Paul Collingwood joined Cook and started slowly but then got his drives working and he raced to 27 before the rain came. Cook, who finished on 66 not out off 113 balls with 10 fours, was severe on anything short of a length, hooking and pulling effectively, while his cover drives were out of the top drawer.
The game as a spectacle has not got much to offer, with England likely to bat on Thursday until the compulsory declaration after 90 overs.