England in New Zealand: Third T20 abandoned after more rain as tourists win series

England’s third T20 against New Zealand was washed out by rain in Auckland, handing Harry Brook’s side a 1-0 series victory.

Only 3.4 overs were possible either side of the first cut. The Black Caps improved to 38-1.

In New Zealand, severe weather affected flights and left thousands of people without power, but most of the disruption was south of Auckland.

While Brydon Carse had opener Tim Robinson caught at the deep square leg boundary, Tim Seifert targeted Eden Park’s short boundaries and hit two sixes in his 11-ball 23.

Despite repeated restart attempts, the match was abandoned at 10:10 BST.

This series, which comes before New Zealand hosts Australia in three T20s, was unusually scheduled early in New Zealand’s season.

In the first T20 in Christchurch, only 20 overs were possible in England’s innings, which were marred by the hosts, before Brook’s team dominated the second match to secure a 65-run win.

The result was Brook’s first overseas series win as England’s white-ball captain. They have made an encouraging start, winning seven of the eight T20s they have completed since taking charge of England’s white-ball teams in April.

That series was likely to be overshadowed by the Ashes, which starts next month, although New Zealand’s weather conditions did not allow Brook more time to fine-tune his team ahead of the T20 World Cup in February.

England have just three more T20s against hosts Sri Lanka from January 30 before their World Cup campaign begins.

The three-match one-day international series against the Black Caps begins on Sunday (01:00 BST) with Ashes players Joe Root, Ben Duckett, Jofra Archer and Jamie Smith joining the squad.

Archer will miss the first ODI at Mount Maunganui as his workload is managed. The ashes continue to grow.