Third Australia-England T20 washed out

England were denied a clean sweep of their T20 series against Australia when persistent rain forced the third match to be abandoned in Canberra on Friday.

Scorecard

Needing 130 to win from 12 overs, Australia were 30-3 from 3.5 overs when rain forced the players from the field for the third and final time.

England captain Jos Buttler said his team was building up well to the T20 World Cup, after winning the three-match series 2-0.

"We made some good strides in Pakistan and we came here (Australia) and continued that form," Buttler said.

The game has been called off in Canberra and England finish the series with a 2-0 win ?????? Scorecard: https://t.co/HhDJboUF5D pic.twitter.com/5NCwqgRZEg

It was a disappointing end to the match, the last official game for both teams before the World Cup, which starts on 22 October.

After being sent in by Australian captain Aaron Finch, Buttler smashed 65 from only 41 balls as England reached 112-2 in their 12 overs.

Australia, already 2-0 down in the three-match series, then needed 130 to win based on the Duckworth-Lewis method.

And they got the worst possible start when Chris Woakes had Finch and number three Mitchell Marsh caught with the first two balls of the match to stun the home side.

He then dismissed Glenn Maxwell in the third over to leave the Australians in huge trouble at 17-3, before rain forced an early end.

Finch earlier won the toss and chose to field, with Australia getting away to the perfect start themselves, as Josh Hazlewood had Alex Hales caught at first slip in just the second over.

Buttler and Dawid Malan looked comfortable and after a slow start began to accelerate, but shortly after the first rain delay Malan miscued an attempted slog off Pat Cummins and was caught at