By Simon Mann BBC Sport in Johannesburg

England's villain against South Africa's - the most compelling action of the day

The South African public are suspicious of the Duckworth/Lewis method after it accounted for their team in unfortunate circumstances in the 2003 World Cup.

But few could dispute England were in the ascendancy when a late-afternoon thunderstorm washed out play.

Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen were well set against South Africa's second string bowlers.

They had waited for the threatening trio of Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel to be taken off by Graeme Smith before counter-attacking.

Vaughan, in a calculated assault, was particularly severe on all-rounder Justin Kemp, whose three overs disappeared for 25.

Pietersen, playing his first one-day international against the country of his birth, was given the expected hostile welcome from the 30,000-strong crowd.

The booing began before his name was announced and lasted until he reached the middle.

He came in to face Andre Nel - England's villain against South Africa's - and it took him 12 balls to get off the mark.

It was the most compelling action of the day.

Nel was the perfect man to be bowling while the crowd was at their most animated.

Pietersen survived to hit five classy boundaries during a half-century stand with his captain.

England received great service from their experienced players

It is hard to make a definitive assessment based on an innings lasting 33 balls, but there was a little more evidence here that South Africa's loss is England's considerable gain.

South Africa got their tactics wrong when they batted.

They set themselves to attack from the start, believing the pitch to be a typical Wanderers 'belter'.

Smith and Gibbs were both out to extravagant drives inside the first four overs, putting their inexperienced middle-order under pressure.

Adam Bacher failed his test and was out to a horrible slog.

Darren Gough and Matthew Hogard, playing his first one-day international for two years, bowled immaculately.

It took South Africa until the 13th over to score their first boundary and even that came off the inside edge.

South Africa's team selection was also curious.

Surely AB De Villiers and Jacques Rudolph would have been better options in the middle-order.

By comparison, England's selectors were ruthless.

Vikram Solanki was left out despite scoring a century in his last one-day international in Zimbabwe in early December.

Solanki deserves some sympathy - he was out for nought to a ball that shot along the ground in England's only warm-up game in Kimberley last week - but it is not difficult to understand the selectors' thinking.

Pietersen and Ian Bell are viewed as potential Test fixtures, so they need to be exposed to as much international cricket as possible.