The pair were taking part in their first international race since the Olympic Games last summer in Sydney, at which they were part of the gold medal-winning coxless four squad.

The Britons finished ahead of Canada and Croatia to earn a maximum of eight World Cup points.

The British squad had further cause for celebration with Matthew Wells taking bronze in the single sculls.

The lightweight men's coxless four came home fifth in their final.

Blustery, crosswind conditions provided Cracknell with a stern test as he got to grips with rowing on the bow side for the first time in competition.

The British pair made a solid start and overhauled the Croatian pair of Igor Francetic and Kresimir Culjak at the 500 metre mark.

By 1500m they had worked their way into clear water which they maintained to the line to finish ahead of a fast finishing Canadian crew of Jon Beare and Henry Hering.

"It was frustration rather than elation coming over the line," Cracknell said.

"There are things we wanted to do here and we did not really achieve them, but these regattas are about learning and we learned a lot today."

Coach Jurgen Grobler added: "I'm very pleased with the result. It was a good start, the basics are there and I'm very optimistic."

Wells struggled to 500m before finding his rhythm to move into third and hold off a strong challenge from Canada's Todd Hallett.

"At 250m I hit a sort of wind brick wall but at 500m I made a conscious effort to scull properly," Wells said after winning his first senior medal.

The lightweight coxless four combination of Matthew Beechey, Stephen Lee, Mike Hennessey and John Warnock finished behind Denmark, France, Canada and Austria to earn three World Cup points.

Great Britain are placed sixth in the World Cup standings with 16 points.

America, with 57 points, hold a healthy 21 point lead over Canada with Denmark and Switzerland tied in third a further 13 points back on 23.

The next World Cup regatta is in Seville on the 14-16 June before the four race series concludes with events in Vienna and Munich.