England's contest against India, essentially a prep match before Saturday's Lord's final between the same two sides, will now be a 32-over-a-side contest.
Heavy overnight rain, and further morning drizzle, meant a late start was inevitable and play will now begin at 1445 BST.
England will have their work cut out against an unbeaten India who also had the best of last week's rain-hit meeting with England at Chester-le-Street.
Even that match was not wasted by the tourists, for whom Sachin Tendulkar scored an unbeaten 105 - his first one-day century against England - before bad weather intervened.
England, however, must pick themselves up from a limp loss to Sri Lanka on Sunday, when they collapsed from 100 for two to 206 all out, chasing 230 for victory.
The hosts' other loss was at Lord's, where Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh steered India out of early trouble to a six-wicket victory with seven balls remaining.
England's failings have tended to be down to a failure to finish the job.
Killer instinct
Lower order batsmen appeared unable to keep the scoreboard ticking at Old Trafford, either finding themselves stuck in single figures or simply taking a cavalier approach but either way perishing to rash shots.
Despite miserly work throughout the tournament from mid-innings bowlers Andrew Flintoff and Ronnie Irani, the tournament has seen a glut of runs in the first 15 overs.
The experienced Graham Thorpe is almost certain to return in time for the final, but England skipper Nasser Hussain has refused to be panicked by Sunday's loss.
"When we start picking our best side and others have had a game he might come back in," he said of Thorpe.
For now, England look likely to continue trying out their options in the lower order and the bowling corps.
Bright spots
Opening bowler Alex Tudor was a qualified success on his one-day international debut, conceding 44 runs from eight overs at Old Trafford for the wicket of opener Sanath Jayasuriya.
And Jeremy Snape made the most of his first appearance in the tournament with 34 runs conceded from 10 overs.
"The fact that Jeremy has not been seen by a lot of international cricketers is an advantage," said Hussain.
"He's an unorthodox spinner and them not having seen a lot of him can be helpful."
And batsmen Michael Vaughan showed some all-round potential on Sunday, trebling his career wicket haul with four for 22.
"Not many of the top four bowl and if you can get a guy up there who can bowl five or six overs or so, it doesn't half help at the other end," Vaughan said.
Hussain could find the Yorkshireman a useful option when looking for a fifth bowler to complete the quota - both first choice spinner Ashley Giles and all-rounder Paul Collingwood have been expensive so far.
India, meanwhile, expect Sachin Tendulkar to play in the match despite the death of his grandmother.
They have largely resisted squad rotation in the tournament so far but may give another shot to middle-order batsman VVS Laxman.
England (from): N Hussain (capt), ME Trescothick, NV Knight, MP Vaughan, RC Irani, PD Collingwood, AJ Stewart (wkt), A Flintoff, JN Snape, D Gough, AJ Tudor, AF Giles, GP Thorpe, MJ Hoggard.
India (probable): SC Ganguly (capt), AB Agarkar, R Dravid (wkt), M Kaif, Z Khan, A Kumble, VVS Laxman, A Nehra, V Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, SR Tendulkar.
Umpires: SA Bucknor (West Indies) and P Willey. Third umpire: NA Mallender. Match referee: M Procter (South Africa).