India 155-6 (20 ovs) (Smriti Mandhana 87; Laura Delany 3-33) beat Ireland 54-2 (8.2 ovs) (Gaby Lewis 32) by 5 runs on DLS
The rain gods have come back to haunt Ireland. In the men’s T20 World Cup before the turn of the year, England were felled by five runs in a rain-shortened game, a result many considered fortunate for Ireland.
In Gqeberha – formerly Port Elizabeth – on Monday, the women’s side earned no such similar luck, falling too by five runs on the Duckworth Lewis Stern method. The narrow defeat to India, who now progress to the semi-finals, ends Ireland’s tournament.
A frustrating week for Laura Delany’s side finished on a somewhat positive note, the skipper’s unbeaten 52-run partnership with Gaby Lewis displaying an ability to stem the rut of wickets in clusters that have haunted the side in South Africa.
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Their efforts came after Amy Hunter was run out disastrously and Orla Prendergast was bowled for a duck – a quiet end to what has been a breakout campaign for her – with Ireland chasing 156 for victory.
Earlier on, after winning the toss and batting, India failed to capitalise on five Irish dropped catches. Their total of 155 fell short of the mammoth score that was on offer when Smriti Mandhana was at her powerful best, hitting three sixes in her innings of 87 off 56 balls.
To go with those five drops, Ireland did snare five catches to somewhat make up the difference. Prendergast and Hunter had the highlights, diving forward in the deep, both coming off the bowling of Delany who finished with Ireland’s best figures of three for 33.
