England vs Pakistan: third T20 international cricket match – as it happened

That’s it from the third T20 international of the four-match series as England and Pakistan are denied by rain for the second time.

The series heads to the Oval on Thursday with England leading 1-0.

Follow all the latest news, live updates, analysis and more from Al Jazeera Sport here. That’s where you will also find out dedicated T20 World Cup 2024 page.

For now, it’s a goodbye from me, Manasi Pathak. See you soon!

Don’t forget you can stay up to date with all our T20 World Cup build-up and coverage here.

This includes our dedicated preview pages for all the teams. Our latest offering is Cheteshwar Pujara’s take on India’s chances in the USA and the Caribbean:

India’s heartache of losing the 50-over Cricket World Cup final on home soil and the experience of a “balanced side” could inspire them to T20 World Cup glory in the US and West Indies, according to Pujara.

The 36-year-old, who has played 103 Tests and five one-day internationals for India, will have high hopes pinned on the men in blue when they begin their campaign against Ireland on June 5.

“We [India] have enough balance in the team, but it won’t be easy because we will be playing in the US and West Indies where pitches are slightly different,” Pujara told Al Jazeera in London.

Read more: ICC T20 World Cup 2024: Can Rohit Sharma’s India win the World Cup?

Thank you for joining us for the live coverage of England vs Pakistan’s third T20 match, which was abandoned due to rain.

We will be back on Thursday for the final match of the series, which will be played at The Oval in London from 6:30 pm local time [17:30 GMT]. That game will be the final warm-up match for both teams before they travel for the T20 World Cup.

Also, on Saturday, we will bring you live updates from football’s Champions League final, where Borussia Dortmund will face Real Madrid at Wembley.

Afghanistan enter the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 as one of the dark horses poised to cause an upset and put their fearless brand of cricket on show, according to their former coach Stuart Law.

The 2010 debutants have reached the Super Eight stage in each of the last three editions of the tournament – steady progress from the first-round exits in their first three attempts.

Law believes Afghanistan are not far from reaching the knockouts and it could happen in the 2024 edition of the tournament in the United States and the West Indies in June.

“I love the way they play their cricket. There’s no fear in the way they go about it,” Law, who is now in charge of the USA team, told Al Jazeera.

Read more: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024: Afghanistan team preview

Mitchell Starc has dismissed fears the intense heat might have drained him during his Indian Premier League-winning exploits, with the Australian declaring he was fit and ready for the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup 2024.

The 34-year-old left-arm pace spearhead lived up to his record $2.98m price tag with an opening burst of 2-14 to set up a third title triumph for the Kolkata Knight Riders against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.

At the end of the two-month tournament, largely played in relentless heatwave conditions, player-of-the-match Starc helped dismiss Hyderabad for 113 as Kolkata cruised to their target with 9.3 overs to spare in Chennai.

“My body is fine,” Starc, who took 17 wickets in 13 matches, told reporters in a post-midnight news conference at the end of extended Kolkata team celebrations.

“I’ve played enough cricket to manage that sort of thing. T20 is not as demanding as Test cricket. It’s been warm, it’s been humid, so that plays a part, but that’s fine,” he said.

Read more: ‘My body is fine’: Starc fit for T20 World Cup after heatwave-hit IPL

Given the two washouts in this series so far, the victory in the second match marks England’s only T20 in this calendar year.

Their last T20 was in December when they lost their five-match series in the West Indies 3-2.

Not quite the preparations for the defence of their crown that England would have liked.

Will Jos Buttler be back to lead the side in Thursday’s final match or will Moeen Ali be asked to lead the team again?

The final match of Pakistan’s tour takes place at the Oval in London on Thursday.

Both teams immediately embark on flights across the Atlantic for the T20 World Cup.

Rain has continued to play spoilsport throughout this series.

The first match in Leeds on May 22 was abandoned due to rain without a ball being bowled and the third match had a similar fate in Cardiff this evening.

As things stand, England lead this four-match series 1-0, thanks to their 23-run win in the second match at Edgbaston.

All eyes will now be on the series finisher at The Oval in London on Thursday.

For all those football fans globally, Europe’s biggest nations tournament starts on June 14.

You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated Euro 2024 tournament page with all the match build-up and live text commentary, and keep up to date with group standings and match results and schedules.

The rain inspection is completed and the word from Sophia Gardens is that the match has been called off due to rain.

The ninth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup runs from June 1 to June 29, and the 2024 champions will be crowned at the Kensington Oval Stadium in Bridgetown, Barbados.

England will try to defend their crown and lift the trophy for a record third time. But standing in their way will be 19 other teams, some of whom have won it all in the past and others who will look to leave their mark on the tournament for the first time.

Click here to find out who are our favourites to win the tournament.

News coming in from Sophia Gardens: a rain inspection will take place at 8:10pm local (19:10 GMT).

It is, however, raining at the moment.

Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets to win cricket’s IPL 2024 on Sunday.

It was the last domestic tournament that included an array of world superstars before the T20 World Cup.

England’s T20 Blast starts on Friday but they will have to make do without the world’s top players for the first four weeks of the tournament at least.

The rain-forced delay has been on for nearly an hour and 30 minutes. There is still no update from Sophia Gardens about the start of the third T20.

The third women’s one-day international (ODI) at Chelmsford marks the final match of Pakistan’s tour of England.

The English have already taken the T20 series 3-0 and lead the ODI series 1-0 following the washout at Taunton on Sunday.

Haris Rauf returned to international cricket after an injury layoff for the second T20 match at Edgbaston, just in time for the T20 World Cup. The pacer, who hadn’t played cricket for three months due to a dislocated shoulder, said that his time off wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“I was injured the last few months, but if you believe in yourself, then the layoff can be a blessing in disguise,” the bowler said at a press conference on Monday. “Because you have time to recover and reassess your game plans.”

Rauf, who took two wickets in the last match, said the mental aspect of the injury layoff was hard.

“It’s a struggle during your rehab, and it’s difficult when you come back to maintain that pace and accuracy.

“But if you believe in yourself, it makes things easier. When I wasn’t in the team and rehabbing, I had a lot of time to think about my game and work on myself.

“Thankfully I’m back now, and the [T20] World Cup is coming up.”

There is no official word yet about the start of the match, but the cut-off time for a 5-over-match at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff is 9:16pm local time (20:16 GMT).

Former England captain Nasser Hussain, a pundit for Sky Sports, said that Jos Buttler’s form will be key to England’s odds at the upcoming T20 World Cup.

“If England are going to win the thing again, Jos Buttler has to have a fine tournament,” Hussain said.

“He didn’t have a fine tournament in the 50-overs World Cup, both as captain and as a player, he looked weary halfway through that.

“He is the sort of captain … that getting runs and keeping well or when the side are doing well, keeps him invigorated.”

England batter Will Jacks has been speaking to broadcaster Sky Sports while the start of the match is delayed due to rain.

Asked about what he learned while playing with India’s ex-captain Virat Kohli in the 2024 Indian Premier League, Jacks said: “Firstly, his attitude towards training. Every day is a day to get better … it’s harder to do that but with him, it was really obvious.

“And the way he goes in the game. Every ball [was] a 100 percent intensity. When I batted with him in a chase, it was how he picked out how to do the chase, not just going ball by ball, [but] looking ahead really to see where he could plan and take risks at his own time.”

Jacks and Kohli played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who lost to Rajasthan Royals in the playoffs this season. The title was won by Kolkata Knight Riders.