WEST Indies and England will face each other in the third ODI in Bristol on Sunday with England having a 1-0 lead following their seven-wicket win in the first game at Old Trafford.
On Thursday, heavy and continuous rain led to the abandonment of the second One-Day International between the two teams at Trent Bridge without a result.
Despite a poor forecast, the proceedings started on time with West Indies opting to bowl first on winning the toss. West Indies opener Chris Gayle was forced out of the game with a hamstring injury.
England openers Alex Hales (10 not out) and Jonny Bairstow (9 not out) started the innings positively with 20 runs in the first two overs. However, with two more deliveries, the play was halted due to rain.
Even though a restart at 13:15 local time was planned by the officials, the skies once again opened up, leading to the abandonment of the game two hours later.
Meanwhile, West Indies coach Stuart Law revealed that Gayle had undergone a scan and is hopeful to be fit in time for the Sunday’s encounter.
“Chris has been for scans,” said Law. “We don’t know the results of them just yet but he tweaked a hamstring in the warm-up. We’ll monitor him and see how he’s going for Bristol.
“He said he didn’t want to risk it, which is fair enough. If you do a hamstring at 38, it takes a bit longer to heal than when you’re 18.
“We probably erred on the side of caution, which is probably the right thing, with three more games to play here. Fingers crossed, he’ll be okay to take part in all those three.”
West Indies squad reads: Jason Holder (captain), Sunil Ambris, DevendraBishoo, Miguel Cummins, Chris Gayle, Kyle Hope, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Ashley Nurse, Rovman Powell, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor and Kesrick Williams.