Sport

Rain may have helped Irish cause

THE RAINS in Kuala Lumpur yesterday may have given Ireland another small nudge towards qualifying for the 1999 World Cup finals…

By DAVID TOWNSEND
Wed Apr 09 1997 - 01:00

THE RAINS in Kuala Lumpur yesterday may have given Ireland another small nudge towards qualifying for the 1999 World Cup finals by delaying the second ICC Trophy semi-final between Scotland and Bangladesh.

Play only got underway in mid-afternoon at the Kilat Club and with no chance of finishing the game on the day designated, the teams will reassemble this morning when Scotland will begin their reply to a Bangladesh total of 243 for 7.

While the odds are against Scotland, the team that loses will not have the luxury of a day off - never mind two as Ireland have had - before picking themselves up and returning to the aptly-named "Lightning" Club to contest the third-place play-off.

Tired bodies and minds will be pitted against a fresh team of Irishmen who are over the disappointment of losing to Kenya and enjoyed their first day off, where else, but at a water park.

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Short of Atlantis bidding to hold the next ICC Trophy, it is harder to imagine a wetter place than Malaysia in March and April and with further rain expected, the tournament may yet end in farce.

The business of qualifying for the World Cup is just that, a business, with jobs and the next three years of cricket in certain countries dependent on the outcome of a couple of 50-over matches. Playing conditions should take priority, but are often relegated behind quite proper financial inducements, and peripheral social considerations.

Off the field, Malaysia have put on a sumptuous spread and that still holds sway with certain senior figures in the ICC who see the tournament as a chance to catch up with old chums and enjoy a snifter or two in some far-flung corner of the British Empire . . . oops, make that British Commonwealth.

Why else would the tournament dinner be switched to the eve of the final round of "quarter-final" group matches to suit the King of Malaysia's schedule? Why else were teams obliged to attend and not leave before his Majesty, who, as is custom, sat with his back to them for the whole evening.

Cricket in Ireland has moved on from the days of cucumber sandwiches and doffed hats, and the ICU, which is bidding to host the next ICC Trophy, will be letting its players down if it does not make the playing of the game its first consideration.