Skipper Jayawardene was in superb form at Arundel

Mahela Jayawardene warmed up for Sri Lanka's Twenty20 debut against England on Thursday by smashing 79 off 35 balls in a rain-hit game with PCA Masters.

The captain led the tourists to 180-3 off 16 overs but incessant showers led the umpires to call a halt at Arundel.

By the end of the fifth over they had made only 24 but 71 came of the next four overs thanks to Sanath Jayasuriya.

He and Jayawardene tore into the bowling before Kumar Sangakkara weighed in with another flurry of boundaries.

A downpour prevented the tourists building on that but after their chastening defeats by Essex and Somerset, it was a welcome win.

Following Thursday's 20-over assault at the Rose Bowl, they take on England in the first of five one-dayers at Lord's on Saturday.

Sri Lanka assistant coach Trevor Penney said: "I feel sorry for the PCA, but at least we put on a good show.

"There was some really good batting there, so we're really pleased from the coaching side of things. A couple of batters really played well."