Australia-England match abandoned without a ball bowled

Australia-England match abandoned without a ball bowled

Cricket

Australia-England match abandoned without a ball bowled.

MELBOURNE (Dunya News) - The weather has won another decisive victory in Melbourne as the highly-anticipated contest of Twenty 20 World Cup between Australia and England has been abandoned due to rain on Friday.

The outfield has been deemed unsafe by the umpires, and this World Cup Ashes clash is toast. Or rather a soggy slice of disappointment. Glenn Maxwell and Josh Hazlewood are among those players heading out to take selfies with the crowd, but that is going to be the extent of the action.

With the Ireland-Afghanistan match also washed out at the venue earlier on, England emerged from a miserable day at second in Group 1 among a logjam of teams on three points.

New Zealand, with a game in hand, lead the group on run-rate ahead of third-placed Ireland and fourth-placed Australia, but the Black Caps can break clear with victory over Sri Lanka in Sydney on Saturday.

With the top two sides advancing to the semis, none of England, Australia or Ireland can afford to lose another match in a tournament in which four out of 14 Super 12 games to date have been lost to rain.