That's it from us today. Hope you all enjoyed our coverage. This is Srinidhi signing off on behalf of S Sudarshanan, Binoy George and Chandan Duroah. Stay safe and stay hydrated. Good night.
7.00pm: The match has been called off. The ground was deemed too wet to even for a 20-over game. And it means South Africa secure a direct qualification for the 2023 ODI World Cup, to be held in India later this year. Ireland needed to win all the three matches of this series in order to move up from eleventh place in the points table.
Even if Ireland clinch the series 2-0, they cannot surpass South Africa in eighth place on the Super League points table. Ireland will now have to compete in the ten-team qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe, slated for June 18 to July 9, and also includes former champions West Indies and Sri Lanka.
As far as this match goes, Little, Hume and Adair shared seven of the nine wickets to restrict Bangladesh to 246 after Mushfiqur's 61 after Ireland opted to bowl. The started started the chase, losing three wickets early for 65 runs before rain stopped play in the 17th over. Continuous showers and bad light meant Ireland could not resume the chase and eventually, are forced to take the Qualifiers route for the World Cup.
Ramon: "This is poetic justice or irony or Murphys law or something. I read somewhere that Ireland chose to host the matches in England in order to prevent chances of matches being washed out by rain."
musa: "As a Protea fan "I bless the rains down in England""
6.15pm: It is still raining at Chelmsford. A large puddle of water can also be seen on the field.
5.52pm: "Bucketing now, but the ground PA is still banging out the choons," says Miller.
Andy: "What's the cutoff time ?" --- we will start losing overs from 6.03pm local time. "Cut off time is likely around 8:20pm," Isam tells us.
5:40pm Covers firmly in place. It has only grown darker in Chelmsford. No updates, sadly.
Over to Srinidhi for some rain watch.
Imran Mahmood: "That fun poll player of the match is incomplete. Rain should have been an option too from SA perspective. It got them the direct ticket to WC. " Ooops!
5:10pm No movement in the centre, that is fully under covers. "Thunder and Lightning... I counted about four seconds between flash and bang," says Miller. The pictures in front of me are still gloomy. No rain, adds Miller. It's raining now.
Vinod Rajpal: "Hey Sudarshan , can you explain how come SA will benefit if this match is washout, South Africa is already sitting on 8th on table !" They will be assured of direct qualification, which wouldn't have been the case had Ireland won this series 3-0. So all SA needed was either a washout or at least one Irish loss.
4:48pm The rain is getting heavier, informs Miller. In fact, now the ground-staff are bringing in more covers to get the area next to the centre also under protected. The bigger white sheets are making their way to the middle now.
4:43pm Oh well! Now there's the arrival of something Ireland didn't want - rain! The players are now heading off. It is quite gloomy as well. How long a delay will it be? Anybody's guess.
Andrew Miller reckons that it is just drizzling right now but there's a thicker band coming across in half an hour...
Bpagur: "Poor captaincy from Tamim. He could bring spinners earlier and make it more than 20 overs by now." You should also see whom the game will benefit. Yes, there are chances that we could have gone past the 20-over mark. But remember, it is Ireland who need a win. Bangladesh have nothing to lose. So why would they risk it? What if Ireland had raced to 95 by the 20-over mark in that scenario?
Sajid: "If its a washout, does that confirm SA's qualification? " Yes it does
