First Twenty20 washed out in Port Elizabeth

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa (Reuters) - Torrential rain forced the abandonment of the first Twenty20 match between South Africa and Australia without a ball being bowled at St George's Park on Sunday.

Persistent rain throughout the day turned into a deluge in the afternoon, forcing the umpires to abandon the game at 3.37 p.m. (13h37 GMT), 67 minutes after the scheduled start.

The teams now move on to Durban for the second match in the three-game series on Wednesday, before concluding with a fixture at Centurion on Friday.

Both teams are using the series as a warm-up to the World Twenty20 to be staged in Bangladesh from March 16.

South Africa play their Group 1 opener against Sri Lanka on March 22, with Australia in action in Group 2 against Pakistan the following day.

(Reporting by Nick Said in Cape Town; Editing by Rex Gowar)