Rain in Melbourne delayed the start of a crucial Super 12 match between defending champions Australia and England at the T20 World Cup on Friday.
Persistent rain washed out the first game of a double-header, between Afghanistan and Ireland, and things remained gloomy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The pitch remained covered and the toss was delayed for the hotly anticipated match, which was scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm (0800 GMT) between the Ashes rivals.
Both England, who went down to Ireland in their previous match, and Australia have lost one of their two games in a tough Group 1. Another defeat for either would severely dent their semi-finals hopes.
The tournament witnessed its first washout on Monday with South Africa and Zimbabwe sharing one point each in Group 2.
'Very disappointing'
Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie expressed frustration after rain denied his giant-killers a crack at another famous win at the T20 World Cup on Friday.
Showers are forecast for much of the day in Melbourne, also threatening the blockbuster evening showdown between Australia and England.
The Irish were pumped up after stunning England by five runs on Wednesday, but they were forced to share the points at the MCG with winless Afghanistan after rain washed out play without a ball being bowled.
"Very disappointing. We played some really good cricket the other night and were looking forward to this fixture against a team we know really well," said Balbirnie.
"We spoke a lot about it after the England game, about backing up that performance and coming out here and playing some good cricket. We didn't get to show what we could do today, unfortunately.
"If it could have gone our way we could have gone to Brisbane (to play Australia on Monday) with a lot of hopes of going into the next round."
Ireland had form against the Afghans, winning a five-match T20 series 3-2 earlier this year.
Both teams receive one point so Ireland move to second in the Group 1 table.
They sit alongside table-toppers New Zealand, who face Sri Lanka in Sydney on Saturday, on three points.
Afghanistan are bottom of the group on two points and skipper Mohammad Nabi was equally disappointed -- it was their second washout of the tournament.
"The preparation was really good, we learned a lot from our first game against England and worked on our particular mistakes," he said.
"We were fully ready... the plan was to put a score on the board and bring the spinners into the game during the chase."
They next face Sri Lanka in Brisbane on Tuesday.
