Georgetown: After a major rain delay, the first one day International finally got underway and the West Indies were three down for a paltry 49, halfway into the 17th over of the truncated 30-over innings. Chris Gayle went for two, bowled by Darren Gough, who was recalled for this match.

Ricardo Powell went for 10 and Ramnaresh Sarwan for a duck, both falling victim to Andrew Flintoff, who had picked two wickets for just six runs off four overs. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Smith were batting on 12 and 13, respectively.

The delay was caused by lengthy mopping up operations of the muddy Bourda outfield.

Umpires Eddie Nicholls of Guyana and Aleem Dar of Pakistan decided that the start of the match will be delayed by at least two hours. They wanted to get in a reduced-overs match Sunday rather than use Monday’s reserve day. A Guyana defence force helicopter spent two hours hovering over the field to aid the drying process, but many areas remained muddy and wet.

Earlier, Michael Vaughan won the toss and put the West Indies in. When England bat he will open the innings for the first time in an ODI. (Agencies)