Persistent drizzly rain in Sydney has caused a delay to the start of the women’s Twenty20 international between Australia and New Zealand at ANZ Stadium.

Both teams were ready to start at the scheduled time of 2.05pm AEDT but a heavy shower passed over the stadium forcing play to be delayed.

The bad weather is threatening to have an impact on Wednesday night’s men’s T20 game between Australia and India although ANZ Stadium officials have insisted the match will go ahead.

The men’s game is set to start at 7.30pm with over 60,000 spectators expected to attend and organisers were hopeful the bad weather wouldn’t affect the final number who do turn up.

“With most seats at ANZ Stadium under cover, there is no reason fans should not take full advantage of their ticket,” ANZ Stadium officials said in a statement.

“If rain persists, the game may be delayed and the Duckworth-Lewis (adjusted scoring) method will be employed.”