COLOMBO, Nov 28: England’s final warm-up before next week’s first Test against Sri Lanka petered out into a draw after another rain-interrupted day on Friday.

England declared their first innings on 314 for nine and the Sri Lanka President’s XI were 135 for four in their second innings when play was abandoned after another monsoon downpour.

Mark Butcher, who had rediscovered his form the previous day after a disappointing Bangladesh tour, had extended his overnight score to 151 not out before captain Andrew Flintoff declared. Butcher hit 16 fours and three sixes.

Opener Michael Vandort (42) and middle order batsman Chamara Silva (31) batted solidly for the home team in the second innings as England gave their spinners an extended bowl. The home side made 181 in their first innings.

England travel to the south coast town of Galle on Saturday for the first of three Tests starting on Tuesday.

Scoreboard

England (1st innings) (overnight 225-5)

M.Butcher not out 151

N.Hussain b Fernando 0

G.Thorpe c Peiris b Fernando 35

A.Flintoff c Gamage b Perera 47

C.Read run out 3

G.Batty run out 8

G.Jones b Fernando 5

A.Giles b Gamage 30

R.Croft lbw b Dhammika 0

M.Hoggard lbw b Gamage 4

J.Kirtley not out 0

Extras (b 4, lb 11, nb 16) 31

Total (9 wkts decl, 71.3 overs) 314

Fall of wkts: 1-3 2-96 3-189 4-200 5-211 6-229 7-284 8-285 9-294

Bowling: Fernando 21-6-79-3 (8nb), Ranjith 7-0-57-0 (7nb), Lakshitha 13-4-47-2, Samaraweera 14-4-51-0, Dhammika 14.3-2-58-1, Perera 2-1-7-1 (1nb)

Sri Lanka President’s XI (2nd innings)

M.Vandort c Kirtley b Batty 42

D.Sudarshana lbw b Kirtley 19

C.Silva c Thorpe b Giles 31

T.Samaraweera not out 18

B.Perera c Read b Croft 1

R.Peiris not out 19

Extras (b-2, lb-2, nb-1) 5

Total (for four wkts, 44 overs) 135

Fall of wkts: 1-57, 2-62, 3-103, 4-110

To Bat: R Arnold, R Dhammika, C Lakshitha, N Ranjith, D Fernando.

Bowling: Hoggard 5-0-22-0, Kirtley 6-1-22-1 (1nb), Batty 13-2-29-1, Giles 8-2-31-1, Flintoff 5-1-9-0, Croft 7-2-18-1—Reuters