Proceedings in the Group A match at Edgbaston in Birmingham looked to be heading to an exciting climax after Kane Williamson, New Zealand’s captain, scored a century before Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood picked up six wickets.

The Kiwis posted 291 off 45 overs of the 46 their innings had been reduced to after a spell of rain caused a delay.

More bad weather interruption came during the change of innings and once things had cleared again, Australia were set a target determined by the Duckworth-Lewis method of 235 from 33 overs.

But just nine overs in, the rain came back and this time it proved to be the end of the match, with Australia on 53-3 when the abandonment was confirmed.

As the Australian’s had not faced 20 overs, the two points available for a win were split between the sides.

Going into the match, there was a lot of hype about how it would turn out due to it being a repeat of the ICC World Cup final from 2015.

Williamson won the toss and elected to bat and his side raced to 40 from 5.4 overs, with big hitting opener Martin Guptill scoring 26 off 22 balls before Glenn Maxwell caught him off Hazlewood’s bowling.

The first rain delay came not long afterwards and when the sides came back out, New Zealand’s other opener Luke Ronchi, who grew up in Western Australia, tried to push his side into a commanding score to make up for the lost overs.

The former Australia A player rode his luck at times, including being dropped by Mitchell Starc at mid-on, before finally falling to John Hastings for a brisk 65 off 43 balls, with nine fours and three sixes, with Maxwell taking another catch.

Ross Taylor joined Williamson at the crease and the pair added 99 for the third wicket before the fourth batsman became Hastings’ second victim for 46.

Williamson had been going steady in the early part of his knock as he allowed Ronchi to do the big hitting, but he clicked into a higher gear as the innings progressed and he was soon smashing boundaries.

He reached his ninth One-Day International ton off 96 balls before being run out after facing just one more delivery, ending on exactly 100 with New Zealand on 254-4.

This sparked a collapse as the remaining Black Cap players looked to send the ball over the boundary rope, only for Hazlewood to pick up five wickets from three overs, with Pat Cummins getting the other scalp.

By the time New Zealand were bowled out for 291, they had lost their last seven wickets for 37 runs.

Australia looked to chase down their revised total at a quick pace, but lost three wickets in doing so before the final interruption came.

Tomorrow’s match sees Sri Lanka take on South Africa at The Oval in London.