The third T20 match between England and Pakistan was washed out due to rain

New Delhi, May 29 (HS). The third T20 match between England and Pakistan to be held in Cardiff on Tuesday night was cancelled due to rain without a single ball being bowled.

Cardiff received heavy rain on Tuesday morning, which continued throughout the day. The rain stopped briefly in the afternoon, but started again at 5.15pm, causing repeated delays to the toss, after which umpires Mike Burns and Russell Warren called off the match at 8.12pm, leaving the spectators disappointed.

This is the second match of the series after the first match played in Leeds on Wednesday was cancelled due to weather, in which only 39.2 overs could be bowled out of the scheduled 120 overs so far. England's team is leading 1-0 in the four-match T20 series. England defeated Pakistan by 23 runs in the second T20 on Saturday.

England captain Jos Buttler did not travel to Cardiff and had the match taken place, Moeen Ali would have led the side in his place. After England's 23-run win in Birmingham, Buttler left for London on Saturday night to be with his wife Louise, as the couple is expecting their third child soon.

Mark Wood was due to play his first match for England since early March, while Sam Curran was also playing after missing out at Edgbaston on Saturday.

Buttler is expected to travel to Barbados with the rest of the England squad on Friday, and could even be back in 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 doesn't look too promising as both teams would want to play at least one more match before heading to the World Cup.

Pakistan have played regularly in this format recently, drawing 2-2 with New Zealand in April and beating Ireland 2-1 earlier this month; while Saturday's match was England's only T20I since 21 December.