Play was abandoned on day two of the second Test between Australia and Bangladesh at Chittagong.
A heavy downpour broke out half-an-hour before the lunch break with the tourists comfortably placed at 2-151, only 46 runs behind the Bangladeshi first innings total of 197 with eight wickets in hand.
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And although the rain stopped at around 6:45pm NZST, the umpires deemed the outfield too wet to enable play to restart.
Day three will start 30 minutes early with nightwatchman Jason Gillespie at the crease on 28 alongside Australian captain Ricky Ponting on 19 not out.
Phil Jaques (66) was the only batsman dismissed as the Bangladeshi bowlers toiled in unfavourable conditions before the storms clouds opened.
Jaques completed his maiden Test half-century with a rash of boundaries before Mohammad Rafique returned to the attack to snap him up in his opening over.
The New South Welshman, who had earlier offered a sharp chance to the gully fieldsman, was guilty of playing one big shot too many and top-edged an attempted sweep to Shahriar Nafees at square leg.
Rafique, who now has 11 wickets in the two-Test series, added Jaques to his dismissal of Matthew Hayden late on day one to finish the morning session with figures of 2-30.
Gillespie accelerated his scoring rate after settling in, crashing two glorious square drives through the covers off the under-firing debutant Abdur Razzak.
Meanwhile, Ponting - the current ranked number one Test batsman in the world - will be confident of adding his 32nd century to a brilliant recent record following his delightful 118 not out in the second innings at Fatalluh.
The rain delay has played into the hands of Australia which only needs a draw to win the two-Test series.
