Hansie Cronje's team, whose first warm-up game was washed out by rain, demolished English county side Kent by 170 runs -- then went out for some more practice.

Skipper Cronje chipped in with an extraordinary three-over spell of medium pace, taking four wickets for six runs as Kent were bundled out for 150 in 34.5 overs.

Roshan Mahanama, meanwhile, celebrated his return to Sri Lanka's line-up with an unbeaten 142, paving the way for a 62-run defeat of Nottinghamshire.

Mahanama, dropped for a recent tri-series in India, carried his bat after being promoted as Sanath Jayasuriya's opening partner. He made his runs off 145 balls, cracking four sixes and nine fours. Sri Lanka made 288 for five.

Then, pacemen Chaminda Vaas and Pramodaya Wickremasinghe took four wickets apiece to send Nottscrumbling to 226.

England, who take on Sri Lanka in the Cup opener on Friday, could only beat Essex by one run after a lacklustre performance.

Their lack of conviction was shown up by one of their own players, Nasser Hussian.

Eager for practice, he defected from the World Cup squad for the day to turn out for his county and seemed set to engineer England's defeat as Essex, chasing 229 for seven, coasted to 155 for one.

But Mark Ealham, who had earlier made an unbeaten 37 off 35 balls, popped up with a second spell of four wickets for nine runs. Hussain scored 82.

Essex, needing 21 off the last two overs, just missed out when number 11 Peter Such, needing three to win off the last ball, could only manage a single.

India, meanwhile were left cursing leaking covers at Harrogate.

Their key batsman Sachin Tendulkar, struggling for World Cup form, was left stranded when water seeped onto the pitch, forcing the game against Yorkshire to be abandoned without a ball being bowled.

The 26-year-old, onlyrecently returned from a back injury, was looking for badly-needed practice after lasting just four deliveries in Friday's rain-affected game against Leicestershire.

Mohammed Azharuddin's men have one more practice game against Nottinghamshire tomorrow before starting their World Cup campaign against favourites South Africa at Hove on May 15.

Zimbabwe crashed to a five-wicket defeat to Derbyshire, but their African neighbours and rank outsiders Kenya impressed during a four-wicket win over Gloucestershire.