Rain delayed the start of Scotland's glamour friendly with Australia to the disappointment of a capacity crowd.

The one-day clash at The Grange in Edinburgh had long been a sell-out and there were queues snaking down the streets as a 4,500 crowd began to assemble.

But they were faced with uncertain prospects of watching the world champions in action in a game which will be replicated in West Indies in 2007 now the Scots have qualified for the World Cup finals.

Australia had more immediate concerns, however, most notably the need to get several players in better nick ahead of the fourth Test with England, with the Ashes series poised at 1-1.

Paceman Jason Gillespie is probably at the head of that queue and he was named in a strong line-up also featuring Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Simon Katich, Damien Martyn and Michael Kasprowicz.

Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath were rested, however, denying the home fans the opportunity the chance of watching two of the greatest bowlers of all time in action.

The Scots, who had been allowed to field overseas imports Jonathan Beukes and Yasir Arafat, were without skipper Craig Wright because of a broken finger.

The rain began to die down towards the end of the morning and it was decided that both teams would take an early lunch in the hope of a mid-afternoon start.

The groundstaff began to take off some of the covers at around 1pm in the knowledge that the day's play could be extended beyond 8pm if required.

The crowd was also informed that both teams were still keen to play and that a Twenty20-style truncated bout was likely to follow as the skies above the capital continued to brighten.