GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) West Indies handed England a victory by 1 run on the Duckworth/Lewis method after a miscalculation by coach John Dyson at the end of an absorbing first one-day cricket international yesterday.

The home team, advised by Dyson, took an offer of bad light from the umpires at 244-7 off 46.2 overs as it chased England's 270-7 off 50 overs.

At that stage, England was ahead by one run on the complicated Duckworth/Lewis calculation to decide interrupted matches.

"I thought we were ahead of the Duckworth/Lewis, when in fact, we were behind by one," Dyson admitted. "It's my responsibility. That's it.

"I accept responsibility for it. I apologised to the team. That's all I can do. It's a bad mistake."

ill-advised decision

West Indies' chase was anchored by half centuries from opener Lendl Simmons (62 off 105 balls) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (57 off 77 balls).

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (46 off 30 deliveries) and Kieron Pollard (42 off 36 balls) sparked the late charge that put the host on course for victory.

Chanderpaul lashed Steve Harmison for 26 runs off one over as he and Pollard added 60 off 42 balls to give the home team the initiative.

But late wickets as the light faded tilted the match toward England and the ill-advised decision by the team management to advise the batsmen to come off for bad light at National Stadium was decisive.

Stuart Broad claimed the decisive wicket of Denesh Ramdin with the final ball of the match and claimed 3-41 off 9.2 overs. James Anderson, who claimed Pollard and Dwayne Bravo in the frenetic dying moments, was also impressive in taking 2-39 off eight overs.

Earlier, England's total was built around half centuries from Paul Collingwood (69) and Owais Shah (62).

venue

The pair shared a fourth-wicket stand of 98 that was the mid-innings platform. Pollard claimed 2-46 with his medium pace, while Bravo took 2-65.

The second match of the series is at the same venue on Sunday.