Pakistan, England 3rd T20I abandoned as rain rules in Cardiff
Cricket
The fourth and final match of the series will be played at The Oval in London on Thursday.
CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — The T20 World Cup preparations of England and Pakistan were further hurt after the third match of their warmup series was abandoned Tuesday without any play possible in Cardiff because of rain.
The first match of the series was also wiped out, before England won the second T20 by 23 runs in Edgbaston on Saturday.
The fourth and final match of the series is at The Oval in London on Thursday. Bad weather is forecast then, too.
The T20 World Cup begins on Saturday in the United States and the Caribbean, with England's opening match against Scotland in Barbados on June 4 and Pakistan playing for the first time on June 6 against the U.S.
Jos Buttler, England's captain, did not travel to Cardiff and Moeen Ali would have led their side in his place if the game had taken place. Buttler left the squad on Saturday night following England's 23-run win in Birmingham and travelled to London to be with his wife Louise, with the couple expecting their third child imminently.
Mark Wood was due to play his first match since early March for England, while Sam Curran would also have featured after being left out on Saturday at Edgbaston. Jofra Archer would have been rested, with England taking a cautious approach to his workload after such a long injury lay-off.
Buttler is expected to travel to Barbados with the rest of the England squad on Friday, and could even return to the squad in time to play in the final match of the series at The Oval on Thursday night. As things stand, the weather forecast for south London is not hugely promising as both sides hope for a final run-out before they travel, though should at least allow for a shortened match.
There was heavy rain early on Tuesday morning in Cardiff, which continued for much of the day. It briefly stopped during the afternoon but returned at around 5.15pm, repeatedly delaying the toss until umpires Mike Burns and Russell Warren abandoned the match at 8.12pm.
