Ashley Giles celebrates after dismissing Justin Kemp in Johannesburg on Sunday. (Reuters)

Johannesburg: Rain stopped play after 25.1 overs of England?s innings, but it was not enough to save South Africa from a 26-run defeat on the Duckworth/Lewis method in the first one-day International on Sunday.

After South Africa had struggled to 175 for nine in their 50 overs, England reached 103 for three when the Wanderers outfield was swamped by heavy showers.

Captain Michael Vaughan, on 44 not out, and Kevin Pietersen, on 22, were busy guiding England to victory after they had slipped to 44 for three in the 12th over.

The teams walked off the field at 4.05 p.m. local time and play was officially called off some 90 minutes later.

England had earlier won the toss and sent South Africa in to bat. Wickets fell regularly as the home side slumped to 90 for seven before the experienced duo of Shaun Pollock (37) and Nicky Boje (33) boosted the innings with an eighth-wicket stand of 58.

Slow left-armer Ashley Giles picked up three lower-order wickets. Pacemen Darren Gough, Matthew Hoggard and Kabir Ali took two wickets each to get rid of the top-order.

The second one-day International in the seven-match series is in Bloemfontein on Wednesday. England won the Test series 2-1.

Meanwhile, ENgland Simon Jones will return home from the tour of South Africa on Tuesday, team officials said on Sunday. Jones was added to the limited-overs squad as cover for the injured Steve Harmison but was not included in the team for Sunday?s ODI.