Ireland have been hit by injury concerns to three of their main bowlers ahead of their three ODI's with Bangladesh in 9 days time.

Skipper Trent Johnston (elbow), Dave Langford-Smith (ankle), and Andre Botha (leg) managed just 13 overs between them as Ireland closed in on victory after day 3 of their Intercontinental clash with UAE in Abu Dhabi.

Johnston explained, "There's a few sore and sorry guys floating around at the minute. I've got to go and see a specialist tomorrow. It's around my elbow but I don't know exactly what it is. The last 3 balls I bowled today were the most painful I've bowled in 20 years. It's really that bad - it's pretty sore and swollen, so I'll just have to see what the specialist says - our physio reckons it looks like a tendon problem. Maybe I'll end on 99 wickets for Ireland!"

That was a reference to the fact that his dismissal of Naeemuddin in the game took him to one short of the magical 100 figure for Ireland, but that injury curtailed his bowling to just the 3 overs.

"Andre Botha has been operating with a leg problem for the last few years, and Lanky is hobbling around on his ankle. He was called up late to the squad, and has been working really hard to get into shape, and maybe that's starting to take its toll."

"That's why it was so pleasing to get 7 wickets on such a flat track. I'd have liked to finish them off today, but we're still on course to take 20 points which was our objective. It won't really matter if it takes an extra 30 minutes or 3 hours tomorrow."