With Middlesex's Andrew Strauss underpinning his claims to replace an out-of-sorts Vikram Solanki by making 83, the visitors reached 237 for eight from 38 overs. That total was by no means out of sight, though, by the time bad weather intervened.
The England of Nasser Hussain, Alec Stewart and Darren Gough have generally come out on top against Sri Lanka over the last couple of years, both in England and Australia.
But the last time the two countries met on this island, in early 2001, the outcome was a 3-0 whitewash for the home team. And England were lucky to get nought.
Sri Lanka's personnel have changed little since then whereas of the visitors, only Trescothick, Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff and Ashley Giles remain.
Flintoff is at the moment rated the world's No1 one-day allrounder, a position he deserves considering the consistency of his performances with bat and ball since the World Cup.
But to beat Sri Lanka this time England will need the likes of Paul Collingwood, Rikki Clarke, Ian Blackwell and Jimmy Anderson to push Flintoff hard for the title of match-winner.
Vaughan, Trescothick and Flintoff are firmly established in world cricket. It is the as yet unfulfilled potential of Collingwood and Co, though, which suggests this squad can go a lot further yet and realistically identify the 2007 World Cup as a target. England and Sri Lanka have met many times since the 1999 'Battle of Adelaide' when two angry teams roughed each other up verbally and physically.
But, as is now par for the course, match referee Clive Lloyd will remind the players they are "ambassadors" and reinforce the message that, these days, anyone guilty of excessive aggression can expect to be suspended.
