The notorious English weather has hindered Australia’s Champions Trophy hopes with its Group A clash against Bangladesh at The Oval abandoned.

Steve Smith’s side were on course for a comfortable victory after bowling out the Tigers for 182, then cruising to 1/83 after 16 overs, before the rain began to fall in south London.

David Warner was 40 not out and Smith 21no when play was halted, with Aaron Finch the only man to fall, for 19.

Twenty overs need to be bowled for a result to stand under the Duckworth/Lewis system and Australia would have been well ahead of the 48 runs required, for the loss of one wicket, under a rain-affected target.

But after the covers came on they remained there until the match was finally abandoned 40 minutes before the scheduled close of play time of 9:59pm (BST) (6:59am AEST).

It is the second successive Australia match to fall victim to the weather after their tournament opener against New Zealand was washed out at Edgbaston last Friday.

Ironically it is only one of two day-night games to be played in the tournament and had the match started in the morning, then it would have produced a result.

Smith’s side now need to beat hosts England in their final group match, in Birmingham, on Saturday, and hope other results go in their favour to have any chance of progressing to the semi-finals.

The outcome was harsh on Australia who bowled superbly to dismiss the world No.6 team inside 44 overs with Mitchell Starc grabbing four wickets.

Starc ripped through the Bangladesh tail with a venomous display of fast bowling, to finish with 4/29.

A classy 95 from opener Tamim Iqbal held together the Bangladesh innings before he became Starc’s first victim, with Josh Hazlewood taking a running catch in the deep.

Legspinner Adam Zampa, preferred to John Hastings by the selectors, picked up two wickets with Travis Head, Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Moises Henriques grabbing one apiece.

Australia have been plagued by rain since arriving in the UK, with the only three days of inclement weather they’ve experienced coming on days when they are playing, with a warm-up against Pakistan also rained off last week.

– AAP