OPENER Alastair Cook made an unbeaten 66 as England reached 142-3 in the two-day tour match with a South Africa Invitation side before rain ended play.

The Essex left-hander reached fifty from 96 balls with his seventh boundary and went on to hit 10 fours overall.

Skipper Andrew Strauss made only one before he edged a backfoot drive to the keeper and Jonathan Trott fell for 11.

Kevin Pietersen hit three fours in 25 and Cook shared an unbroken 51 with Paul Collingwood (27) before the storm.

Strauss won the toss and decided to bat on a sunny morning in East London, but the new ball proved difficult on a slow surface.

In the third over, former Northants left-arm seamer Charl Patterson tempted Strauss with one that bounced a little more than expected and keeper Mangaliso Mosehle took a regulation catch.

Trott, preferred at three to Warwickshire colleague Ian Bell, began with a boundary which was guided between slips and gully, but in attempting a similar stroke he too edged to the keeper.

Pietersen might have departed lbw first ball had his namesake not over-stepped for a no-ball.

But England’s premier batsman was soon into his stride and recorded a fifty partnership by smashing a full toss from medium-pacer David Wiese through extra-cover for four.

Despite the sluggish surface Cook was able to pull some wayward short-pitched deliveries from Siya Ntshono.

Wiese claimed the coveted wicket of Pietersen when a delivery held up in the sticky wicket as the batsman went on the backfoot and looped a return chance that was snaffled by the bowler high to his right.

Collingwood and Cook kept the scoreboard ticking in methodical fashion before the thundery rain arrived, and such was the severity of the deluge, play was called off for the day in mid-afternoon.

Cook was left out of the one-day squad in the first part of the tour to concentrate on fully recovering from back trouble.

He trained with the England Performance Squad and made a half-century for them in Pretoria last week, but insisted: “Time in the middle is good for me and it is a shame the rain hit when it did. (The weather) is frustrating but you can’t do anything about it and you can’t let it affect you.”

Regarding the injury he said: “I still do feel it. It’s quite major when you have two prolapsed discs – but I can move fine out there now.

“I’ve been in Pretoria doing some physio on my back (but) it’s not ideal at the moment.

“Hopefully we can manage it through the tour. We just have to make sure it doesn’t flare up again.” (BBC Sport)