Old Trafford was a soggy sight

At 1800 BST the umpires announced there was no hope of play as the showers simply refused to budge.

It was the fifth time in their last 10 one-day internationals that England had suffered a complete washout.

Captain Michael Vaughan said: "We obviously must have said something wrong to the rain gods."

His team have suffered similar frustration on recent tours of Sri Lanka and the West Indies.

England coach Duncan Fletcher took a less philosophical view than Vaughan.

"The more experience these guys get the better and we're losing opportunities for players to show how good they are," he said.

I'm not happy full stop with back-to-back games Stephen Fleming New Zealand captain

He had stated how keen he was for someone to fill the gap left by Andrew Flintoff, who is injured and will miss the entire series.

Marcus Trescothick will be fit to play for the remainder of the series after being an injury doubt for Thursday.

West Indies, the third team in the series, are due to make their tournament debut in the second game of the competition, against New Zealand, at Edgbaston on Saturday.

The Kiwis have another game the following day, against England.

Their captain Stephen Fleming said: "I'm not happy with the schedule, but I'm not happy full stop with back-to-back games and that's something I've stated strongly for some time.

"On principle I don't think they should play a part because I don't think it's realistic to expect high class performances during a whole weekend.

"The extra time would help make sure the paying public get to see athletes at their best, rather than perhaps short of 100%."