Ireland's missed chance

Cricket Ireland v Bangladesh: Ireland's cricketers had a disappointing finale to their season yesterday when they were well …

Cricket Ireland v Bangladesh: Ireland's cricketers had a disappointing finale to their season yesterday when they were well beaten by Bangladesh in Limavady.

After Sunday's dramatic finish in Stormont where the home side lost on the final ball, hopes were high that they could put one over on their Test-playing opponents. But an under-par performance in most areas of the game saw them stumble to a 54-run defeat.

Batting first, Ireland got into the Bangladeshis early and had them in trouble at 51 for 3 and later 116 for 6. But they failed to press home that advantage and the visitors finally got to 231 all out.

Ireland got off to a good start with Jason Molins and Jeremy Bray putting on 46 for the first wicket. But then Molins missed a straight one from Mahmud and it signalled an Irish collapse that left them in serious trouble on 88 for 4.

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Bray batted well for his 46 but was bowled by Rafique before he could really cut loose. Peter Gillespie and Kyle McCallan put together a decent partnership of 42 for the fifth wicket. But then, having scored 22, McCallan miss-hit a shot through mid-wicket and was caught by Javed Omar off the bowling of Rana. It was the crucial moment of Ireland's innings as the home side then fell apart, ending up all out for 177.