There was no winner in the Twenty20 game which was washed out on Sunday but both Australia and England will be losers if it happens again on Tuesday at Old Trafford.
The two teams square off in the second and final match at Old Trafford in the early hours of Wednesday morning and unfortunately Manchester's fickle weather may spoil the party. Rain is forecast for much of the day.
While it seems like a non-descript match on paper - not to mention a revenue raiser for the ECB - it will give both sides invaluable practice in a format which they show little imagination in their approaches.
Both countries endured inauspicious tournaments in the ICC World Twenty20 earlier this year.
Australia bowed out in straight sets while England fared only marginally better, bowing out in the Super Eights after losing to cricket minnow the Netherlands on opening night.
Although there is still eight months until the next Twenty20 showpiece in the Caribbean the two countries have few opportunities left to experiment.
After this clash, England has just two games against South Africa confirmed while Australia has three next February back home - a date with world champion Pakistan before taking on the West Indies twice.
But that's not to say there will be a shortage of Twenty20 matches in that time, just few at international level.
New South Wales and Victoria, who between them supplied eight of the 13 players picked in the original squad for the Old Trafford games, will represent Australia in the Champions League Twenty20 in India next month.
Then there's the domestic Twenty20 Big Bash before the third staging of the IPL, which takes additional importance as the major lead-up to the 2010 world championship.
The only conclusion to be drawn from Sunday's washout was that Australia still has much work to do with its batting.
Apart from Cameron White, there remains a distinctly textbook approach by the batsmen.
It's not as whitebread as playing within the V but deflections into gaps and traditional shots take precedence over reverse sweeps, switch hits and scoops.
Extreme pace remains Australia's major bowling weapon despite the great success enjoyed by Sri Lanka and Pakistan's spinners earlier this year.
Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson proved a handful in the short time England spent at the crease.
And left-armer Dirk Nannes, plucked from the Dutch after starring for Victoria and Delhi Daredevils, is also lightning fast but an unknown quantity on the international stage.
Another washout and we'll all be none the wiser about Nannes' worth and Australia no closer towards unlocking the Rubik's Cube that is Twenty20 cricket.