England fielders encounter a load of old cobras in Sri Lanka

Michael Vaughan's side endured a gruelling day in the field at the start of their opening warm-up match against a Sri Lanka A side masquerading as a Board President's XI, who closed on 218 for three.

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The tourists toiled on a benign surface under a ferocious sun and their cause was not helped by distracting thoughts about poisonous snakes in the grass.

It was just before lunch that they were discovered. Your correspondent had left the pavilion and was observing proceedings from just beyond the boundary rope.

A sudden rustling noise turned out to have been caused by a six-foot green snake, alarmingly less than three feet away.

Fans standing nearby shouted 'Naya Naya' — the popular term for cobra in these parts.

Further research revealed that Sri Lanka has the highest annual snakebite death-rate — 600 a year — per capita in the world. And to think that one man threw a stone to aggravate it!

Stuart Broad was the nearest player to the action, patrolling the boundary five yards away.

When informed about the unwelcome intruder, the young seamer admitted: 'Snakes are my biggest phobia.'

It soon became apparent that Matthew Hoggard was the Steve Irwin to Broad's Indiana 'I hate snakes' Jones.

The Yorkshireman arrived to take a look and seemed intent on climbing over the low wall to tackle the creature, or creatures — as a smaller 'baby' cobra had also appeared.

Common sense prevailed and he kept his distance, although he did later try to entice the adult out of a plastic pipe by prodding it with a stick.

At lunch, the rest of the players ran over to see what the fuss was about and Kevin Pietersen was evidently disappointed that the snakes had all but vanished inside the pipes.

He, too, favoured the stick over the carrot in trying to draw them out, which was understandable as they are not known for being vegetarian.

England have had similar close encounters before. In 2003, a tour match in Bangladesh was interrupted when the sighting of a snake caused a stampede in the crowd, before it was beaten to death by a man wielding a chair.

On an A team tour to Sri Lanka in the late Nineties, a snake slithered up to James Ormond — fielding at third man — forcing the bowler to make a hasty exit.

And during the one-day series here last month, a group of players were confronted by a rat snake in the grounds of their hotel in Dambulla.

Asked about this latest episode, Graeme Swann said: 'There were rumours going around and someone said, "There's an eight-metre snake over there".

That's when KP went running over with a big stick and started poking it.

'Let's hope it's a good omen because there was another snake up in Dambulla and we went on to play some good cricket. But that one was only a four-footer!

'Snakes and spiders don't bother me. As long as there's no cockroaches, I'll be fine.'

Swann suffered his fair share of punishment yesterday as the Sri Lankan batsmen made hay, admitting that he bowled 'like a drain' and was short of rhythm.

Fellow spinner Monty Panesar fared little better — conceding five fours in his first over and frequently dragging the ball down too short.

But at least he had the consolation of dismissing home captain Tillakaratne Dilshan for a duck, caught at deep cover.

Ryan Sidebottom produced a menacing, probing spell after lunch and was rewarded with the wicket of Malinda Warnapura, who was trapped leg before two short of his half-century.

Broad had struck the first blow when he had Dilruwan Perera caught behind with a short ball which glanced off the opener's glove.

Hoggard and James Anderson were tidy enough, but the former briefly lost his run-up in the afternoon, much to the amusement of his team-mates, and the latter is still struggling with stiffness in his back.

Unfortunately, the bowlers' efforts were undermined by fielding lapses, as Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood and Alastair Cook spilled tricky catching chances.

Steve Harmison arrived on a a delayed flight from South Africa and his watching brief was curtailed by a monsoon which brought play to a premature close.

However, the Durham paceman will be called into the attack either today or tomorrow.

UMPIRE Rudi Koertzen apologised to Kumar Sangakkara yesterday after Sri Lanka slipped to a 96-run defeat to Australia in Hobart.

He gave the left-hander out on 192, caught at slip, but replays showed the ball hit his shoulder and helmet.