It was already known that the rain would attack at any time. Finally it happened. Although Bangladesh batted well, hosts Ireland could not play even 20 overs. It started raining in Apantal. In the end, the ball did not roll on the field. The umpires declared the match abandoned.
This burned the forehead of the Irish. They are not playing directly in the ODI World Cup to be held in India. Qualifiers to be played. On the other hand, South Africa directly reached the World Cup.
Ireland didn’t get off to a good start in response to 247 runs in Chelmsford. Opener Paul Sterling was dismissed for 15 runs. Only 5 runs came from the bat of team leader Andrew Balbirnie. Stephen Doheny scored 17 runs before getting out. Harry Tector remained unbeaten on 21 runs and Lorcan Tucker on 2 runs.
Earlier, Irish team leader Andrew Balbirnie invited Bangladesh to bat after winning the toss at the beginning of the match. Liton Kumar Das returned to Sajghar for zero runs in the first over. Another opener Tamim Iqbal returns for 14 runs off 19 balls. And 20 runs came from the bat of Shakib Al Hasan.
Meanwhile, Nazmul Hossain Shanto made a 50-run partnership with Tawheed Hriday in the fourth wicket pair. Tigers were playing positive cricket at that time. But when Shanta got out for 44 runs and Hridoy got out for 27 runs, the Tigers were under pressure again. Mehdi Hasan Miraj was dismissed for 27 runs.
Meanwhile, Mushfiqur Rahim continued to play alone. Picked up a personal half century. After that, he could not stay at the crease for long. Back to 60 runs. Besides, Taijul scored 14 and Shariful scored 16 runs.
(09 May/MM)