Anderson strikes before the rain

West Indies 57 for 2 (Sarwan 11*, Powell 8*) - no result
Scorecard

Brian Lara has enjoyed a week of being feted all through Trinidad, but his adoring fans at the Queen's Park Oval were denied the chance to see him doing what he does best, as a tropical deluge caused the second one-day international to be abandoned after just 16 overs.

Instead what few honours there were went to another, less celebrated, returnee. James Anderson, the forgotten man of England's triumphant Test series, struck with the third ball of his comeback, as West Indies were pegged back to 57 for 2 before the early finish.

Anderson, who carried the drinks all through the Tests, was bewildered at being overlooked for the first match in Guyana last Sunday. But he channelled his frustrations to great effect and ,almost as soon as Michael Vaughan called him into the attack, induced a loose carve from Chris Gayle. Paul Collingwood pulled off a fine low catch at point and a sheepish Anderson had announced his return (34 for 2).

The other man to fall was West Indies' star from the Guyana match, Shivnarine Chanderpaul. On a tricky pitch juiced up by the rain, Chanderpaul started as slowly has he had on Sunday, crawling to 3 from 16 balls. He endured a torrid time at the hands of Steve Harmison, who once again located the ideal line and length to exploit the conditions, and regularly nipped past the shoulder of the bat. But, in his fourth over, he finally had his man, and Chris Read took a simple deflection.

At the other end, Darren Gough struggled a little to find his line. He had conceded 20 runs in his five overs by the time Anderson was called into the attack, including two fours to Gayle - a streaky flash past second slip and a glorious cover-drive.

The eager Trinidad crowd immediately recovered from their disappointment, however, when it occurred to them that Lara was due in next. But, much to their surprise, Lara chose not to make his appearance. Instead, Ramnaresh Sarwan stepped out to clip his first ball from Anderson for four, and later top-edged an Anderson bouncer for another boundary, to reach the close on 11 not out.

Lara's reticence may have been an attempt to deflect attention from his personal achievements, and refocus on the game in hand. But it was surprising nonetheless, especially after he had gambled on batting first on a wicket that had been juiced up by overnight rain, and which had caused the start of play to be delayed by an hour. But ultimately, it didn't matter too much.

West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Brian Lara (capt), 4 Ricardo Powell, 5 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 6 Dwayne Smith, 7 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Corey Collymore, 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Merv Dillon.

England 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Michael Vaughan (capt), 3 Andrew Strauss, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Rikki Clarke, 7 Chris Read (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Darren Gough, 10 Stephen Harmison, 11 James Anderson.