The relentless rain in Colombo left England with nothing from their one-day series defeat against Sri Lanka - not even a wicket.

Another torrential downpour an hour before the scheduled 2.30pm start of yesterday's third and final day-night match meant England's time in the field amounted to the 83 deliveries it took the Sri Lankan openers to complete a ten-wicket win in Dambulla last Tuesday.

Midday sunshine promised better prospects of play than Friday but again the match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

The heat prior to the spectacular weather encouraged the tourists to name their side, making a solitary change to their line-up as they sought to level the one-day series at the Premadasa Stadium with Sussex bowler James Kirtley in for the injured James Anderson.

But the handful of one-day specialists return home today with little meaningful action behind them this winter, making the selection of the limited-overs party for the West Indies tour after Christmas - to be named in early December - more complicated.

Coach Duncan Fletcher and his fellow selectors were keen to examine the credentials of Rikki Clarke, Ian Blackwell and Gareth Batty in the middle order but weak opposition in Bangladesh and the wet weather in Sri Lanka have scuppered that.

''Not being able to see some people will make the selection more difficult: we wanted to see some of them and how they reacted under pressure,'' Fletcher said.

''In this part of the world you have to play under a lot of pressure at times and it tests the character of the individual.

''It was important for the guys to come out here and get the experience.

''In the one-dayers in Bangladesh we would have liked to have seen the people in positions after Andrew Flintoff and how they came along so we haven't learnt a lot in the batting.''

A deluge that lasted two hours left the covered area in the middle spilling water on to the outfield so that huge pools formed around the boundary edges.

Despite that, captains Michael Vaughan and Marvan Atapattu were in favour of allowing the ground staff time to soak up the excess, a seemingly futile exercise given that the water in the canal, behind one of the stands, was at a higher level than the playing area.

But the super-moppers could not reduce the volume quick enough and the ground continued to resemble the marsh the stadium was built on, play being called off at 5.15pm, two hours before the latest possible start time for a match of 25 overs per side.

''We pitched up, we wanted to play some cricket, to get back into the series but the conditions were atrocious both on Friday and tonight,'' said Fletcher.

The good news for England is that Anderson's ankle injury appears to be easing and there is a slim possibility he may now be in contention for the first Test at Galle on December 2.

Initial diagnosis of the sprain, incurred while the 21-year-old Lancashire bowler was playing squash on Wednesday, suggested he would not be fit until the second match at Kandy and Kirtley was added to the Test squad as cover.

But Anderson appears to be walking freely, albeit with the joint strapped, and Fletcher said: ''We have a situation where Jimmy is coming along nicely but we don't really know where he is until he bowls.

''I asked (physio) Dean Conway and at first he thought it was the second Test, but he has since said there is a very slight chance of the first but not to be too optimistic.''

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Tim Boon will become full-time assistant coach to Fletcher from October 1 next year, inheriting the team analyst role on future tours, which is currently undertaken by Malcolm Ashton, and allowing provision for a full-time bowling coach.

l Zimbabwe levelled the one-day series as the West Indies lost their way in Bulawayo.

Brian Lara and Chris Gayle were transformed into fallen heroes following their heroics in the first match of the series, as the tourists crashed to 125 all out.

Zimbabwe made light work of the chase, cruising to a six-wicket victory on the back of an unbeaten half-century by Mark Vermeulen.