Thunderstorms denied Andrew Symonds a triumphant return to Birmingham on Tuesday night after he delivered his third successive masterful display in the day-night international against England.

Born locally but raised in Australia, Symonds' one-day series was in doubt after he broke curfew the night before their embarrassing defeat to Bangladesh in their opening match of the NatWest Series.

Instead of sending him home, Cricket Australia elected to fine him and implement a two-match ban and Symonds has been repaying that reprieve ever since with successive man-of-the-match awards in their last two victories.

He was also on course for a third in a row after his superb 74 off 75 balls, which included six fours and four sixes, guided Australia to a competitive total of 261 for nine despite the loss of five wickets in the closing overs.

England, hopeful of landing some psychological blows on the world champions before Saturday's Lord's final, were unable to determine whether they could have exceeded that total when rain halted their replay at eight without loss after three overs.

They did return, by which time the victory total had been adjusted to 200 in 33 overs, but further rain halted their reply at 37 for one after six overs to leave a capacity 21,000 Edgbaston crowd frustrated in their hopes of witnessing another Australian beating.

Australia had begun the match in bright sunshine and started in confident mood after deciding to bat first with Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden hitting Darren Gough, one of England's best bowlers so far in the tournament, out of the attack after his opening two overs cost 23 runs.

Without their most experienced bowler, England instead turned to novice Simon Jones for inspiration and he delivered by dismissing both openers and rattling Hayden with his aggressive intent.

Having drawn Gilchrist into edging behind pushing outside off stump, Jones demonstrated an aggression which may serve England well in the Ashes series to follow by annoying Hayden sufficiently to prompt his dismissal.

Hayden, one of the most renowned sledgers in the Australian line-up, objected when Jones aimed a shy at the stumps and hit him in the chest on the bounce after he had patted the ball back down the wicket.

The incident appeared to have ended after Jones apologised by raising his hand, but Hayden flared up again and became involved in an angry exchange with Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff before captain Ricky Ponting came down the wicket to defuse the situation.

That incident clearly unsettled Hayden because he failed to add to his 14 runs off the next seven deliveries he faced before trudging off unhappily when he was given leg before to Jones

If Australia had cause for complaint about their treatment, which included every batsman being booed to the crease by the lively Edgbaston crowd, they could also argue a sense of injustice later in their innings as they began to rebuild.

Captain Ponting, without a half-century so far in the tournament, had fallen for an impressive 34 trying to attack Flintoff having been frustrated by an impressive early spell from left-arm spinner Ashley Giles on his home ground.

At 95 for three with 22 overs of their innings spent, Australia needed to consolidate and were well on their way to achieving that when Damien Martyn fell to a contentious catch in the deep from Kevin Pietersen.

Martyn had played a cautious role, but attempted to upper cut Steve Harmison in similar manner to that which led to his dismissal during England's opening victory of the NatWest Series in Bristol.

Once again Pietersen came running in from third man and claimed a tumbling catch, which after consultation umpire David Shepherd ruled was clean although television replays remained inconclusive that the ball had not touched the ground.

Without Martyn's cool reassurance, Australia were forced to rely on the skills of Symonds and Mike Hussey, who were happy to progress slowly at first before accelerating towards a formidable total.

Symonds could hardly claim local knowledge having emigrated from Birmingham to Australia at an early age, but he showed a mastery of the situation and dominated a 101-run stand off only 91 balls.

He progressed to 21 off 40 deliveries, but accelerated to claim his half-century off only 59 balls and by the time he was out he had scored 74 off 75 balls and put Australia in sight of another imposing total.

He failed to do that only because he showed strange naivety for a player making his 119th one-day international, which led to Symonds being run out with seven overs to go and sparking a late collapse.

Hussey had clipped the ball down to backward square leg and pushed for two, a tactic which they had employed superbly to force England into another sloppy fielding display, but Symonds failed to react for the second run.

Hussey attempted to sacrifice himself by diving for line to try to beat Collingwood's throw and began to walk back to the dressing room, but was called back when television replays determined that Symonds was the nearest man to the crease.

Without their big-hitter, Australia's momentum stuttered to a virtual halt with five wickets falling for 30 runs in only 37 balls and instead of pressing on, they were only able to add 56 in the final 10 overs.

England would have been delighted with their recovery, but could have restricted Australia even further had captain Michael Vaughan taken a regulation catch at short extra cover to dismiss Brett Lee before he had scored and he went on to hit 21 off 18 balls.