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Pakistan's hopes of a final day's competitive action ahead of the first Test were dashed by rain at the St Lawrence Ground.

The match was abandoned as a draw in the early afternoon without a single ball being bowled.

After two days of sunny weather, the tourists returned to the ground under grey skies and a steady downpour began 20 minutes before the scheduled resumption.

It continued throughout the morning and umpires Roy Palmer and David Shepherd decided no play would be possible after a post-lunch inspection.

The wash-out did allow Pakistan to leave early for their London hotel, where they will be based for the Test which starts at Lord's on Thursday.

They will be encouraged by the batting form shown by openers Saeed Anwar and Salim Elahi on Saturday, when they put on 307 for the first wicket.

Anwar hit 27 fours and five sixes in making 201 off 230 balls, while Elahi played the supporting role for an unbeaten 94.

Akhtar in contention

But English-born coach Richard Pybus said it was difficult for players to acclimatise with only three warm-up games before the Tests.

"At the start of the tour if you had said how many days would you bank on playing going into the first Test, we would have been quite pleased to have lost only one.

"We have got plenty of cricket in, but it's a short timescale and we have not had a lot of time to get up to speed with English conditions."

He added: "I remember a situation a couple of years ago where Saeed Anwar hadn't played any cricket at all for four months, got called to the Sahara Trophy and took his bat and went out and scored 80-odd against the West Indies.

"If the guys are mentally tough enough they can adapt."

Pybus confirmed that paceman Shoaib Akhtar will be considered for the Test side, despite not being picked for the game at Canterbury.

"Shoaib's made some decent strides in the last day or so. He's a lot sharper than he was up at Derby, I think he's probably feeling more confident about himself.

"We're going to have to sit down and look at all the options."