Posted June 06, 2017 07:40:59

Photo: Australia was only minutes away from victory against Bangladesh when the rain set in. (AP: Adam Davy)

Lousy English weather has hindered Australia's Champions Trophy hopes with their Group A clash against Bangladesh at The Oval abandoned.

Steve Smith's side was on course for a comfortable victory after bowling out the Tigers for 182, then cruising to 1 for 83 after 16 overs, before the rain began to fall in south London.

David Warner was 40 not out and Smith 21 not out when play was halted, with Aaron Finch the only man to fall, for 19.

Twenty overs need to be bowled for a result to stand under the Duckworth-Lewis system and Australia would have been well ahead of the 48 runs required, for the loss of one wicket, under a rain-affected target.

But after the covers came on they remained there until the match was finally abandoned 40 minutes before the scheduled close of play time of 9:59pm local time.

It is the second successive time a match involving Australia has fallen victim to the weather after its tournament opener against New Zealand was washed out at Edgbaston last Friday.

Ironically, it is only one of two day-night games to be played in the tournament and had the match started in the morning, then it would have produced a result.

Smith's side now needs to beat hosts England in their final group match, in Birmingham, on Saturday, and hope other results go in their favour to have any chance of progressing to the semi-finals.

The outcome was harsh on Australia, which bowled superbly to dismiss the world number six team inside 44 overs with Mitchell Starc grabbing four wickets.

Starc ripped through the Bangladesh tail with a venomous display of fast bowling to finish with 4 for 29.

A classy 95 from opener Tamim Iqbal held together the Bangladesh innings before he became Starc's first victim, with Josh Hazlewood taking a running catch in the deep.

Leg-spinner Adam Zampa, preferred to John Hastings by the selectors, picked up two wickets with Travis Head, Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Moises Henriques grabbing one apiece.

The Australian team has been plagued by rain since arriving in the UK, with the only three days of inclement weather it has experienced coming on days when it was playing, with a warm-up against Pakistan also rained off last week.

AAP

Topics: cricket, sport, england, united-kingdom