SOUTHAMPTON: West Indies paceman Sheldon Cottrell took two early wickets and South Africa was in trouble at 29-2 when light rain interrupted play in the Cricket World Cup group game at Hampshire's Rose Bowl.
Cottrell twice got to use his trademark wicket celebration, the military-style salute, when he had Hashim Amla (6) caught by Chris Gayle and Aiden Markram (5) caught behind.
The covers came out when light rain started in the eighth over. Quinton de Kock was batting on 17 and South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis was yet to get off the mark.
Rain is forecast throughout Monday in Southampton, meaning Duckworth-Lewis run-rate equations are likely to come into play if the teams can get through a minimum number of overs.
West Indies captain Jason Holder won the toss and sent South Africa in to bat in the Cricket World Cup group game at Hampshire's Rose Bowl, with rain in the forecast and the Duckworth-Lewis run-rate equations likely to play a big factor in the outcome.
South Africa is coming off losses to England, Bangladesh and India and desperately needs a win to get its campaign going. The West Indies opened with a win over Pakistan and then had defending champion Australia in trouble before losing the second game by 15 runs.
The South Africans will need to score quickly before the heavy rain predicted during the afternoon, hoping the run-rate is high when the West Indies try to chase a total.
The South Africans made two changes to the XI that lost to India last week, with allrounder JP Duminy and wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi dropping in favor of paceman Beuran Hendricks and batsman Aiden Markram. Hendricks will be playing his first game since being drafted into the squad as injury cover.
The West Indies made two changes to the lineup that lost to Australia, with Darren Bravo recalled to open the innings at the expense of Evin Lewis and Kemar Roach included in the bowling attack.
Allrounder Andre Russell was ruled out of the lineup.
Lineups:
South Africa: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir, Beuran Hendricks.
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Jason Holder (captain), Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Kemar Roach, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas.