Hughes has been a team-mate of several of this England squad (those from Middlesex and Worcestershire) and an Ashes opponent for most of them.

Alastair Cook was in sombre mood on the eve of the series and spoke on behalf of his team. “We are all in shock,” he said, “and our thoughts and prayers are with Phillip and his friends and family. It’s desperately sad news and our fingers are crossed. I’m sure he’ll show the same fight as he has done throughout his career. We are all thinking about him and we send him our best.”

Understandably Cook did not wish to be drawn into the debate about helmets and safety, although he acknowledged “it does make you aware that when the ball is travelling at 90mph, it’s a dangerous game. Hopefully this is an isolated incident and Phil will pull through”.

This was the worst possible prelude to a series that has yet to fire the imagination. Before the grim news from Australia, England’s tourists have had to strain to remain in a positive frame of mind. Even when it’s dry Colombo does not provide conditions akin to those anticipated in the World Cup but it’s worse when it’s wet. With no runs, no wickets and no wins there can be a haunting air of futility about another night in a distant hotel room, however plush.

Cook did his best to be upbeat. “We have trained fantastically well but we know that counts for nothing,” he said. “Now that we have a chunk of six months leading into to the World Cup hopefully there will be a big improvement in a short space of time. It’s not ideal to go into a series with the second practice match washed out.” In the first, England recorded a Duckworth/Lewis victory but only two players, Cook and Moeen Ali, had the chance to play substantial innings.

Because rain is so anticipated at this time of year reserve days have been allocated to five of the seven matches. David Boon, the match referee, has met with the captains and thrashed out a plan. If necessary the match, whatever its format, will continue on the second day rather than be started afresh, which has often been the case in the past.

There is some common sense here, though sod’s law dictates that at some point everyone will have to return on the second day to play for two overs. Cook was right – it’s not ideal.

Moreover on the eve of the first game there were doubts about the availability of England’s most experienced pace bowler in the squad, Steven Finn. He had acquired a niggle in the groin, which meant his fitness to play would not be decided until the morning of Wednesday’s floodlit game.

Finn’s participation may be in doubt but the identity of Cook’s opening partner was not. He confirmed Moeen would join him at the top of the order after their successful alliance in the practice match. Then England were 0-0 after Cook had studiously negotiated the first over, but once Moeen had hit six boundaries augmented by a wide they were 25-0 after two overs. “That second over did take the pressure off a bit,” Cook said with a rather rare smile.

This is an experiment that has to be continued, which means the Nottinghamshire pair, Alex Hales and James Taylor, will stay on the sidelines on Wednesday. Ravi Bopara, also omitted for the first match, may however come in for Finn or Chris Jordan, whose radar was none too reliable in the first outing of the tour.

There has been much talk of England playing without fear and with greater aggression. Of course there is a trap here the senior players need to acknowledge. There is not much point in Cook or Ian Bell trying to bat like Hales, the T20 musketeer. That is not how they function best. If England yearn for a Hales-style player at the top of the order, well, they will have to pick Hales rather than expect Cook or Bell to undergo some sort of metamorphosis.

Sri Lanka have not been functioning at their best recently. They have just returned from India, where they were last-minute replacements for West Indies. There they were thrashed 5-0, conceding some massive totals along the way. With all the rain around Colombo runs are likely to be harder to come by in this series – assuming the players can get out there.

(theguardian.com)