Australia take Women's Ashes lead into Test after rain washes out third T20

The home side carry a 4-2 lead in the multiformat series into the one-off Test match, which begins on January 27 at Manuka Oval in Canberra

Australia and England were left frustrated for a second successive day after the Adelaide rain caused the abandonment of the third T20I of the Women's Ashes series.

Persistent rain that was heavy at times prevented the toss from taking place. With play needing to start by 3.37pm local time, the decision to call off proceedings was made just over half an hour beforehand.

It means that the home side carry a 4-2 lead in the multiformat series into the one-off Test match, which begins on January 27 at Manuka Oval in Canberra.

The four-day game was originally scheduled to kick off the series before the start was brought forward by a week – shifting the three T20s and disrupting the preparations of both sides in the process – in order to give the teams the time to complete a 10-day quarantine upon arrival in New Zealand ahead of the World Cup.

The upshot, with only one of the three matches completed due to poor weather at the Adelaide Oval, is that Australia can retain the trophy by winning the Test.

^{Just 4.1 overs have been possible in the last two days (Kelly Barnes/Getty Images)}

If the Test is drawn, England will have to whitewash Australia in the 50-over leg – a format where the hosts had gone 26 games unbeaten prior to a surprise defeat against India at the start of the international summer – in order to win the series.

Australia won the only uninterrupted T20 by nine wickets, with Tahlia McGrath's unbeaten 91 making light work of England's competitive total after being put in to bat.

Before this series, every limited-over game scheduled since the format of the Women's Ashes changed ahead of the 2013 edition had garnered a result.

The T20 fixture between Australia A and England A played out at Karen Rolton Oval also failed to bring about a result. Emma Lamb and Eve Jones made half centuries for the tourists but Australia's reply lasted just five balls.