Australia on the ropes before rain ruins third T20

Chris Woakes had Australia's top-order in all sorts before rain was ultimately the winner in the third Dettol T20I and saved the hosts from a series sweep on a frustrating night in Canberra.

Set 130 to win from 12 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern, Woakes was on a hat-trick after the first two balls of the chase as under-pressure Australian skipper Aaron Finch and Mitch Marsh both fell for golden ducks.

Finch charged down the wicket first ball of the innings but could only pick out deep point and Marsh departed via a leading edge that ballooned to short third.

Steve Smith survived the hat-trick ball and played and missed at the fourth as Woakes troubled the Aussie batters with beautiful away swing.

Out-of-sorts Glenn Maxwell (8), promoted to opening after David Warner was rested with neck soreness after falling heavily attempting an outfield catch in the second T20I on Wednesday night, smashed a six over mid-wicket off Reece Topley before he too fell to Woakes, handing the England seamer his best T20I figures of 3-4 from two overs.

But the rain returned for a third time with Smith unbeaten on seven and Marcus Stoinis on eight, and Australia 3-30 off 3.5 overs

The match was abandoned just before 10.30pm with England claiming the three-match series 2-0 courtesy of a pair of eight-run victories in Perth on Sunday and Canberra on Wednesday.

Image Id: CDF1D78D78214FA7A7022652B0865EF1 Image Caption: Rain interrupted the match on several occasions // Getty

That Australia was chasing such a hefty total in a shortened match was down to England skipper Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes who whacked 39 runs from the last 14 deliveries of the innings following the second break in play.

Buttler (65no off 41) crunched Hazlewood (1-36 off three) for three consecutive fours and a six – all to different areas of the ground – as he took 22 off the penultimate over and brought up his second half-century of the series from 35 balls.

Stokes (17no) added eight off the first two deliveries upon the resumption, slapping Maxwell onto the hill first ball after the delay, and took nine off his final over of the innings as the visitors finished with 2-112 off 12 overs, with Australia set a revised 130 to win under the DLS method.

Finch won the toss in his 100th T20 international – the first Australia men's player to achieve the milestone – and as has been the case of late, he sent England in with the hosts preferring to chase.

Mitchell Starc returned to new ball duties after fellow quicks Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins were given the role in the second match of the series and proceeded to deliver a wide down the leg-side first ball.

He also conceded four leg byes from another wayward delivery but utilised his potent inswing to England's two right-handers to keep the opening over to just seven runs.

Australia's world No.1 ranked T20 bowler Josh Hazlewood then broke through in second over as the hosts kept England's dangerous opening pair in check for the second match in a row, finding the edge of the in-form Alex Hales that Finch comfortably pouched at slip.

Dawid Malan, coming off a match-defining 82 two days ago, again looked in exquisite touch with a crisp flick off his pads off from just his second delivery faced and a pull shot to the mid-wicket boundary to take nine off the Cummins over.

After an almost hour-long rain delay that saw the match reduced to 17 overs per side, Cummins responded with a pace-off delivery and it did the trick when Malan skied an off-cutter into the safe hands of Mitch Marsh on 23.

However the rain returned again after only 15 minutes and when another 40 minutes was lost the match was further reduced to a 12-over contest.

Both sides will have their final hit-outs before the T20 World Cup at the Gabba on Monday; Australia against India in the afternoon and England against Pakistan later that evening.

Men's Dettol T20I Series v England

Australia squad (first T20I): Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchel Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

Australia squad (second and third T20Is): Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

First T20: England won by eight runs

Second T20: England won by eight runs

Third T20: No result

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