Ireland’s hopes of regaining their InterContinental Cup crown hang in the balance after no play was possible on Day four of their game with Canada at Malahide. The record rainfall which swamped the ground meant the umpires had no option but to abandon the game when they arrived this morning.

That means both teams receive 3 points, while the farcical regulations see Scotland and Kenya, who failed to get on the field over the 4 days, getting 10 points each. Quite what the logic is escapes me, and all ICC would say is that the teams knew of the regulations before competing. Kenya now hold a crucial 4 point lead over Ireland, who lie in 4th place, ten points adrift of both Namibia and Scotland, although the latter have now completed their schedule.

It’s all been a frustrating four days for skipper Kyle McCallan, who refused to be drawn on the points allocation, saying, “It’s all very disappointing. If we had four full days play, I think we would have won it okay. We never seem to win this competition without overcoming a few obstacles along the way, and this has given us a new challenge. We have to go to Africa now and get a result, either against Namibia or Kenya, or maybe both.”

McCallan paid tribute to Andrew White, who scored an unbeaten 109 as Ireland declared on 326 for 6, “It’s the best Whitey has played in a long time. The One day game has made him into a bit of a fiddler and nudger, trying to create runs where there aren’t any, and his improvisation has been vital to us over the years. Here he was able to play proper cricket, and I thought he batted magnificently. That was the Andy White of old, back to before he went to Northants. I hope this is a big kick on for him, and he carries into all the ODI’s coming up. He was a different class to anything we’ve watched in this game.”

McCallan then went on to talk about the bowlers, “Canada dug in really well, and it wasn’t the easiest pitch to try and get quick wickets. The weather conditions meant that there wasn’t a great deal of pace and bounce, and although there was a bit of turn, players had plenty of time to adjust. It was always going to be a war of attrition, and unfortunately the weather didn’t give us time to bowl them out. Andre being injured didn’t help our cause, but we’ve big games coming up, and I didn’t want him to break down.”

Ireland now play Canada in an ODI at Clontarf on Tuesday at 10:45am, and then take on Kenya in a 3 match series at Stormont on August 24, 25 and 27.

The squad was announced for the Canada game and Ireland are boosted by the availability of both Niall O’Brien and Gary Wilson, and Alex Cusack and Gary Kidd both return after illness and work commitments respectively.