The finest cricketers in the land began their first game at the Rose Bowl this morning.

A sell-out 16,000 crowd began filtering up Marshall Drive at dawn and the grouind was half full when former Hampshire bowler Chaminda Vaas bowled the first ball of the match to Rose Bowl debutant Marcus Trescothick

Lengthy queues were building up along the road beneath Telegraph Wood as Wasim Akram, another ex-Hampshire left armer, took his place in Sky Sports' commentary box on his return to the Rose Bowl.

But the supporters soon made their way through the Rose Bowl turnstiles and the good news was that the park and ride facility in Hamble was working well, even if there was gridlock at Junction 8 of the M27.

The better news was that the action got underway on time, despite the gloomy forecast, after Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu had won the toss.

England spent yesterday at the Rose Bowl, where Southern League bowlers Richard Hindley and Roger Miller helped give them net practice.

Andover's Miller is Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove's chauffeur and he even managed to remove Andrew Flintoff's off-stump on the eve of the England all-rounder's second visit to the Rose Bowl but his first since 2001

That was hardly the best welcome for the Rose Bowl's biggest attraction but England made a solid start against Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa.

Atapattu's decision to bat first was no surprise but the two Sri Lankan left-armers struggled to make any headway against Trescothick and Vikram Solanki.

Trescothick was given a let-off in the eighth over, when he was dropped by fellow number 23 Nuwan Zoysa after hitting a leading edge against first change bowler Farveez Maharoof.

But in the same over Solanki was caught behind by Sangakkara for 18, leaving England 29 for 1 at the end of the eighth over.

His dismissal brought skipper Michael Vaughan to the crease, and he was quickly out in embarrassing fashion.

His day had begun badly when he lost the toss and it got worse when he shuffled across his stumps, only to lose his middle stump to for five

And England were 69 for 3 in the 19th over after Andrew Strauss was run out for six as he chased a second.

That brought Flintoff to the crease.