A FOUR-DAY game that is decided with 15 balls and just 10 minutes to spare would give the impression that it was exciting. Ireland’s Intercontinental Cup defeat to Afghanistan in Dambulla yesterday was no such thing. The seven wickets margin was the most relevant statistic.

It was supposed to be a day when Ireland would bat for 96 overs to preserve their 18-match, six-year unbeaten record in the competition. They were all out on the stroke of tea and left the Afghans 134 to win in the remaining 34 overs.

Not a team to look a gift horse in the mouth, the classy Asians timed their reply to perfection and Ireland did not have a bowling attack good enough to trouble them. At least Gary Kidd, the Waringstown slow left arm spinner playing only his second first class game, had an excuse for wilting under pressure and surprisingly no-one more bowled more overs than him in the second innings.

A full-strength batting line-up had no such excuse for being rolled over on a flat pitch for 202. Indeed, but for Trent Johnston’s unbeaten 63 the end would have been even sooner and more emphatic. Peter Connell for the second time in the match shared in a half-century stand for the last wicket but before that the highest partnership was 40 and the second top score was 27.

Perversely, Ireland’s only chance of victory was to be bowled out but Kidd and Andrew White are no Kyle McCallan and Regan West, and Boyd Rankin may also have made a difference. Johnston, undoubtedly fired up by his batting heroics, duly took a wicket with his first ball but exited the attack after four overs, mysteriously never to return. Of the others, only dependable Andre Botha conceded less than Afghanistan’s required four runs an over.

Ireland needed a long opening partnership to give them momentum at the start of the day but William Porterfield failed to last eight balls, hanging out his bat and Dawlat Ahmedzai found the edge to claim the first of his five wickets. It was to be a recurring pattern as the batsmen were caught between defence and keeping the scoreboard ticking over.

Of the first seven only Botha found the happy medium and had reached 27 off 36 balls when he was beaten by off spinner’s Mohammad Nabi’s arm ball. Of the 20 Ireland wickets that fell in the match, only four were to catches away from the wicket. Repeatedly it was the defences that were breached and although National Coach Phil Simmons insisted he was happy with the preparation, after four months without cricket for many of the squad rustiness was inevitable and, actually, a valid excuse. It was not insignificant that the player who has the most cricket under his belt, John Mooney after an autumn in Australia, hung around for 76 balls at No 8, after facing 90 in the first innings, but Ireland cannot afford a specialist bat at No 8; he bowled only four overs in the match.

Alex Cusack got the best ball of the innings, in Ahmadzai’s impressive first spell, but the others, some for the second successive innings, tamely surrendered. Niall O’Brien who went into the match needing 104 to bring up his 1,000 runs in the competition, is still 29 short after being caught behind twice and his brother Kevin failed to score 20 in the match - he was leg before twice.

Ireland have almost seven months before they return to the defence of this trophy but depending on other results their fate could be all but decided by then. They are currently sixth of the seven teams. The new leaders are Afghanistan and the still team to beat. Ireland have now tried twice and come up short twice.