Rain has final say as second ODI washed out

DUBLIN: The rain fell here almost all day on Saturday forcing the organisers to abandon the second and last One-day International between Pakistan and Ireland at Malahide cricket ground.

It has been raining here all this week but the showers were particularly bad on Saturday which is the reason why despite all out efforts the second ODI was washed out without a single ball bowled.

There was a sizeable turnout at the ground with hundreds of Pakistani fans turning up to watch their team.

One of the fans was Zahid Aslam, who had come to watch the game all the way from San Francisco.

“It was really a pity that rain had the final say as we were all looking forward to another forceful showing from Pakistan,” said Zahid, who was also there for Thursday’s game.

There were a few inspections of the field by the umpires but each break in the rain was followed by more showers. In the end it became quite apparent that the field was too wet to have any play on it and the umpires decided to call off the match.

The result means that Pakistan won the two-match series 1-0 after demolishing Ireland by 255 runs in the opening game played on Thursday.

Opener Sharjeel Khan, who hit a stunning 152 in that mammoth victory, was named man-of-the-series.

Pakistan will return to England on Sunday (today) and will set up camp in Southampton where they will take on England in the opening game of their five-match ODI series. The other four matches will be played at Lord’s, Nottingham, Leeds and Cardiff followed by the tour-ending Twenty20 International in Manchester on September 7.