England fear after 'Baywatch' rescue

England's cricketers will be staying out of the sea in Sri Lanka after spinner Gareth Batty had to be pulled from the waves by lifeguards.

Although not officially banned, the players were so shocked by what happened they are unlikely to take the plunge again on this trip.

Batty tried to put the incident behind him when he took his place in the England team today as they reduced Sri Lanka to 138 for four by the close of a raininterrupted opening day of the First Test.

The 26-year-old Worcestershire spinner had got into difficulties while body surfing with captain Michael Vaughan and fast bowler Matthew Hoggard close to the team's hotel.

"I'm okay now, just a bit embarrassed but it was frightening," admitted Batty. "I feared the worst for a few moments."

The coral coastline is notorious for dangerous undercurrents and claimed the life of a tourist last week. "There is no ban on swimming as such but I think you can safely say that the players will be keeping out of the sea from now," said England spokesman Mark Hodgson.

Batty said that he, Vaughan and Hoggard had asked a lifeguard if it was safe to body surf on Sunday and they were told it would be okay if they stayed in a channel, "which we did".

Within minutes, though, Batty was in trouble. "We caught a couple of waves but when we went out for a third one the current caught us and took us out 20 or 30 feet," he said. "The next thing we knew we were getting whacked on rocks."