England's tour match against a South African Invitational XI has been abandoned for the day due to heavy rain.
The two-day warm-up match at East London got under way in bright conditions but heavy rain persisted throughout the course of the afternoon and brought an early finish to proceedings.
Alastair Cook had reached 66 not out before the weather broke dramatically, to complete a 96-ball 50 with his seventh boundary.
He and Paul Collingwood had just completed another 50 stand - with the score on 142 for three - when thundery rain stopped play.
Cook helped England recover from the early losses of captain Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott to reach 97 for three by lunch.
Strauss managed only a single, and new batting find Trott was gone too by the ninth over.
That gave Kevin Pietersen another chance to put a first big score in the book before next week's first Test - as he continues his return from four months out after Achilles surgery.
The South Africa-born batsman might have had an lbw scare first ball, had his namesake not over-stepped, and also had a close call when he involuntarily inside-edged a single past leg-stump off first change David Wiese on eight.
Kevin Pietersen was clearly prepared to be patient as he tried to get a foothold, and had to wait for his first boundary - a 'gimme' full toss smashed past extra-cover off Wiese - to bring up the 50 partnership.
Cook, by contrast, had already fed off some unwise short-pitched deliveries from Siya Ntshono on a sluggish surface.
The left-handed opener soon began to drive as well as pull with authority, and Kevin Pietersen joined in too before lunch.
It was unjust reward for Pietersen's hard work when an unremarkable ball from Wiese stopped on him as he shaped to make runs off the back foot and instead fell to a one-handed return catch high to the seamer's right.
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