South Africa reduced England to 116-6 before the rain came and forced the first day of the first Test at Lord's to be abandoned prematurely.
After winning the toss and opting to bowl first, Kagiso Rabada showed his quality with an excellent opening spell that accounted for England's openers. Anrich Nortje then backed him up brilliantly with 3-43 as he regularly hit speeds of over 90mph.
22-year-old left-armer Marco Jansen also showed his promise, removing Joe Root lbw for just eight. Ollie Pope was the only player to offer any real resistance for England as he made an excellent 61 not out, while captain Ben Stokes was the only other batter to reach double figures before the rain interrupted.
Here are five talking points from the day's play...
Lees' "poor" dismissal
So far this summer, Lees has looked good without getting a really significant score to cement his place in the side. However, the opener made a poor start to the South Africa series when he nicked off to Rabada for just five.
"That's a poor shot," former England captain Michael Atherton said on commentary for Sky Sports. "He escaped earlier in the over from a loose drive, but Rabada has him now."
However, former England spiner Phil Tufnell was full of praise for Rabada, telling BBC Test Match Special: "Really good bowling this from Rabada, right on the money. His deliveries have been shaping in to Lees but this just stayed out there and drew the edge. A really good bit of bowling."
Crawley's struggles continue
So far this summer, Crawley has scored 151 runs in nine Test innings at an average of 16.77 and has come under increasing pressure. England have repeatedly backed the opener and he did look more in control against South Africa, having put away the big booming drive which had been getting him into trouble.
However, after getting caught at second slip off Rabada for nine, his place in the side is under scrutiny. Former England quick Chris Tremlett tweeted: "Continuing to play Crawley is doing him more harm than good now. Time for a change".
Former England spinner Vic Marks, meanwhile, told BBC Test Match Special: "He's out of nick. I object to them being so loyal that you keep picking players that you know are out of nick. I think there comes a point when you should ask yourself as selectors 'are we doing this bloke a favour by continuing to pick him when he's clearly not in the best of form?'
"We are in an era where loyalty is a big thing, but if you do that to such an extent that he keeps failing then it doesnt do him any favours because the gap when you eventually drop him to when you bring him back gets bigger and bigger and bigger because you've given him so many chances and it's almost like you're writing him off. Sometimes if you drop them early when you sense they're just not right, I think you're doing them a favour."
Pope stands up
With Stokes the only other top-order player to reach double figures with 20, Pope's unbeaten half-century was an excellent innings and crucial for England. Pope had never batted at three in first-class cricket before this summer, but has showed some real promise in the role with notable scores of 145 and 82 against New Zealand and now 61 against South Africa.
"He has just doubled down on how he is going to bat in this innings," Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara told Sky Sports. "The most important thing is, every time the ball was there to attack, he was decisive. Really full? Drive. Short and wide? Hit it over the slips. That sort of commitment is really important. Even when leaving the ball, you could see it was an aggressive, positive, decisive leave. Pope was in control."
Marks, meanwhile, told BBC Test Match Special: "This is a significant innings from Pope. He came in early with wickets falling around him but he has still played positively. The solitary plus for England is that their number three is still there in difficult conditions."
Nortje's milestone
The quickest bowler on show in this match, Nortje went for a few runs early in his spell but bounced back and picked up his first wicket by bowling the in-form Bairstow for a duck. He followed that up by removing both Stokes and Foakes to reach the milestone of 50 Test wickets in his 13th match.
The 28-year-old is a quality bowler and followed up Rabada's brilliant opening spell to rip the heart out of England's dangerous middle-order. South Africa legend Shaun Pollock told Sky Sports: "There was the opportunity, with the cloud cover and the ball probably going to nip around – they backed the strengths of their four fast bowlers, and they were superb.
"It's an awesome foursome! Nortje has the licence to run in and to try and bowl as quick as he can. But it was set up beautifully by Rabada's spell at the start of the day."
Rain forces an early ending
As expected, heavy rain, thunder and lightning forced play to be abandoned early, with the covers forced on just after 2pm. It is a frustrating sight for fans, who have experienced a two-week heatwave only for the rain to return alongside the return of Test cricket.
It meant play came to an end with just 32 of the scheduled 90 overs bowled, forcing what had been an exciting day of cricket to be abandoned. England will resume on 116-6 tomorrow with most of their hopes resting on Pope and Atherton believes they will need to score around 220 to remain competitive.
"This is early days in a game that is a five-day game and a three match series so you can't draw too many firm conclusions yet," Atherton told Sky Sports. "England have done well in the games earlier in the summer to kind of stay competitive when it was tough and then find a winning position in the second half of the game,"
"South Africa's batting has got holes in it as well, and England have got bowlers that can exploit these kind of conditions as well. England's aim is to get a kind of score to keep you competitive. Somewhere around that 220 mark"
