AUCKLAND: South Africa's Twenty20 warmup match against a New Zealand XI was abandoned Tuesday without a ball being bowled, hampering its preparations ahead of Friday's one-off T20 international against New Zealand.

Tuesday's match was due to start at 3pm local time on the outer oval at Auckland's Eden Park but steady rain throughout the day had soaked the ground and play was abandoned before the coin toss was made.

South Africa will play New Zealand at Eden Park on Friday ahead of five one-day internationals and three test matches.