Groundstaff survey the sorry scene on the waterlogged Riverside outfield

England's Twenty20 international with South Africa has been abandoned more than 24 hours before its scheduled start because of heavy rain.

Durham's Riverside ground was left under water on Tuesday following incessant rain in recent days.

It means that England will not play a competitive Twenty20 before the multi million Stanford match on 1 November.

The first of five one-day international matches against the South Africans begins at Headingley on Friday.

It is the first time in the four seasons of Twenty20 internationals in England that a match has been called off without a ball being bowled.

Match referee Roshan Mahanama made the unusually early decision to abandon the game following discussions with both teams and the groundstaff, plus concerns over forecasts for further rain in the next 24 hours.

Spectators with tickets for the match will be entitled to a full refund.

606: DEBATE At least they've taken the decision today rather than get everyone up there, only for them to call it off at the last minute tef_afc

England's full side had hoped to have a warm-up against Scotland in Edinburgh on Monday, but that match was also ruined by ran.

The bowlers did manage a full innings, Andrew Flintoff once again the pick with 3-21 from eight overs, as the Scots were restricted to 156-9, but the batsmen had less than three overs at the crease before the rain intervened.