CARTRIES, April 30: West Indies and England prepare to lock horns once again this weekend in the fifth and sixth one-day internationals after 12 days of inactivity caused by wet weather.

After England's two-wicket victory in the first match of the seven game series in Guyana, the next three encounters - last weekend's back-to-back matches in Trinidad and Wednesday's match in Grenada - have all been abandoned due to rain. But the two teams arrived to find perfect conditions in St Lucia, with the pitch in excellent shape and organisers confident that both this weekend's matches will be completed.

That will be good news for the West Indies cricketing authorities, who faced hefty losses after refunding tickets for the Trinidad and Grenada matches. To put last week's series of abandonments in context, of 119 one day internationals to have been played in the Caribbean, only eight have been completely washed out.

England coach Duncan Fletcher said this week that the rain had scuppered his plans to test his inexperienced squad at the highest level and now he must decide whether to stick with the side that started the game in Trinidad or rotate the players.

England captain Michael Vaughan would not be drawn on the lineup, which is set to be named shortly before the start of play on Saturday. If England do decide to rotate their squad, that could mean a first tour appearance for batsman Anthony McGrath, the only member of the squad yet to play a game. -Reuters