Ireland's T20 match against Afghanistan abandoned due to rain

The Irish cricket team must have hummed Melbourne band Crowded House's famous ditty 'Take the Weather With You' at some point on this World Cup journey.

Not for the first time during this trip to Australia, Andrew Balbirnie's side have seen a match abandoned due to rain, but this time it was their eminently winnable Super 12 showdown with Afghanistan, and not a warm-up game, which fell foul of the elements.

Both sides were awarded one point after officials made the decision to abandon the game in the face of persistent rain, with the hope that the Australia v England game would have a chance to proceed later in the evening at the MCG.

Both sides will have targeted this game as a real chance to take two points in a group filled with cricketing giants. An added disappointment for Afghanistan is that this is their second game at the iconic MCG in the home city of Crowded House that has been abandoned due to rain.

The scheduled start time of 3pm local (5am Irish time) was pushed back because of showers, which ultimately refused to relent and an abandonment was declared 95 minutes later.

There was still an hour and 10 minutes before the scheduled cut-off but the recognition it would take at least an hour for the ground to dry meant hands were shaken early.

Balbirnie's side, who sit top of the group alongside New Zealand on three points courtesy of their shock win over England on Wednesday, now travel north to sunny Brisbane for a clash with reigning champions and hosts Australia on Monday at the Gabba.

In their final game they travel to Adelaide to face New Zealand on Friday and at least one win from those games will be required to have any hope of achieving a historic semi-final berth.