South Africa secured direct qualification on Tuesday for the 50-over Cricket World Cup in India later this year after the first one-day international between Ireland and Bangladesh ended in a no-result washout. Ireland had to win all three matches in a series against Bangladesh taking place at Chelmsford, the headquarters of English county Essex, if they were to move up from 11th place in the points table. Even if Ireland now take the series 2-0, they cannot surpass South Africa in eighth place in the World Cup Super League (WCSL) standings.
Ireland will now have to compete in the June 18-July 9 qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe, that also includes former champions West Indies and Sri Lanka. The Irish were 65-3 in the 17th over, chasing Bangladesh's 246-9, made from a full 50 overs, when bad light and rain halted play at 4:34pm local time (1534 GMT).A minimum of 20 overs had to be bowled in Ireland's innings for a result to be declared under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method for rain-affected matches. But the fixture was called off at 1800 GMT when the umpires deemed conditions too wet to restart play.
