England’s T20 World Cup preparations were again hit by poor weather as the third T20 international against Pakistan in Cardiff was abandoned without a ball bowled.

The four-match series also opened with a washout at Headingley on Wednesday, before England triumphed by 23 runs in the second T20I at Edgbaston on Saturday.

Rain began to fall steadily in the Welsh capital an hour before the scheduled 6.30pm start time for the third match of the series and never relented enough to result in a reduced-overs clash – the cut-off for which would have been 9.16pm.

A pitch inspection was announced for 8.10pm if no further rain just as the wet weather returned, resulting in the match being called off shortly after that time.

It means that the fourth and final match of the series, at The Oval on Thursday – live on Sky Sports Cricket from 6pm (first ball, 6.30pm) – is the last chance for the two teams to prepare ahead of the start of the Men’s T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies.

The tournament starts on June 1, with England’s opening match against Scotland taking place on June 4 and Pakistan opening against co-hosts the US on June 6.

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