England vs Pakistan, 1st T20I at Leeds, ENG v PAK, May 22 2024 - Ball by Ball Commentary

5.30pm Match abandoned! It's all over red rover. Everyone's too busy getting caught up in election fever to care anyway. Onwards to Edgbaston on Saturday!

Incidentally, the final deadline for World Cup squads is that very day... will there be time for England to road-test Jofra Archer before the clock runs down? This might have been a very instructive opportunity missed.

Jos Buttler has been speaking to Sky Sports: "Really frustrating. We've had a really good couple of days' prep and everyone was really excited for the series. I think just putting the England kit back on and playing cricket in England is amazing. So it's really disappointing today, not to be playing, but three matches still to look forward to.

"A unique build-up [for the T20 World Cup]. I think that's why we felt it was good to try and get the players all together for this series. My personal opinion is there should never be any international cricket that clashes with the IPL. But my first priority at the moment is being England captain and trying to prepare as best we can for a world tournament. I've always said to Keysy [Director of cricket, Rob Key] I would definitely be coming back as England captain. He's made the call on the rest of the players."

4.22pm Good afternoon, and welcome to what ought, in theory, to be the first T20I between England and Pakistan, the start of the men's international season, and the build-up proper to the two teams' T20 World Cup campaigns.

Unfortunately, the Yorkshire weather appears to have other plans. Here is the current scene in and around Headingley. It is not pretty and it is not relenting. If you were thinking of heading down, I'd hold off for a while yet!

A washout would be a shame on several levels. No imminent return to action for Jofra Archer, and one fewer matches in which to gauge his readiness to compete at the World Cup. And as for Jos Buttler, he was quietly miffed at the clash of club and country that forced him to miss Rajasthan Royals' IPL play-offs campaign. No doubt he's watching in the team hotel as they take on RCB in the Eliminator... in fact, we might as well all watch. Nothing to see here for the foreseeable!