Ireland vs Pakistan, 2nd ODI at Dublin, , Aug 20 2016 - Match Result

ABANDONED
2nd ODI, Dublin (Malahide), August 20, 2016, Pakistan tour of England and Ireland

Match abandoned without a ball bowled

Match centre 

So with today game being a wash out, Pakistan win the series 1-0. Sharjeel Khan has just been named as player of the series after his excellent knock in the first game. Pakistan will move back to England where the five match ODI series begins on Wednesday in Southampton. Ireland will start preparing for the visit of Hong Kong, for their Inter-continental match which starts on the 29th August in Stormont.

I'm sorry that we didn't get any play to commentate on today, although I hope that you enjoyed the regular weather updates that we brought you throughout the day. Who says you can't multi-task eh? So goodbye from a very wet looking Malahide.

3:35pm There's bad news folks, it looks like the weather has finally beaten us today. The rain has been falling steadily for the last hour and it doesn't look like its going to stop either. There is no chance of getting the ground ready for play before the cut off point. So unfortunately todays game has been abandoned.

3:05pm The DJ at the ground is playing a tune from REM, as the rain starts to get even heavier it really should be the 'End of the World as we know it'. Looking at the rain radar, its not looking good. All the heavy covers are in on the square and you would have to guess its only a matter of time till the Umpires put us all out of our misery here

2:45pm Just as the Umpires were going to go back out and inspect again, there is another quick shower that has come across the ground. This will blow across quickly but each time the rain comes down, the longer its going to take to dry. If there's any Billionaires out there that want to start building roofs over cricket grounds,

you really will have a lot of takers…

2:15pm  These pesky little rain showers keep rolling through, its not raining at the minute and the Umpires are going to inspect again at 3:00pm. So it means that if we finally get any play today the overs are going to be reduced again. Maybe a 25 over a side blast?

1:55pm Your not going to believe this. Its raining again. In the last few minutes some dark clouds had arrived over the ground. Now its chucking it down quite heavily and everyone is running for cover. What a frustrating day……grrr. Covers coming back on again, this really isn't going to help.

1:40pm We have some news from the Umpires, as long as we don't have anymore rain, they are going to inspect again 2:20pm. If everything is ok then we will be starting at 3pm, we would have enough time to get in a 31 over game.

The outfield does seem quite wet out there so it seems like there is going to be a fair amount of drying to be done before they can think about playing. The cut off time for a 20 over game is 4:32pm. Which is still over 3 hours away.

1:10pm Well at the minute we have all five Umpires out on the ground having a look at what damage has been done. John Bracewell the Ireland coach is out there having a look around too. We have also seen the first sign of the Pakistan players this morning, just having a gentle kickabout on the outfield.

The ground is starting to fill up as the sun comes out. Lots of Pakistan flags being waved around.

12:50pm The DJ at the ground has decided to play "here comes the sun" by the Beatles. It's not a joke because the sun has just broken through for the first time today. The groundstaff are taking a peek under the covers to see how much damage has been done.

Craig Young and Andy McBrine has wandered out to the middle to have a look around, they have been kicking a football around the outfield for a while. Still no sign of the Pakistan team yet.

12:40pm The rain comes, the rain goes, it comes back, it goes again. I'm sure that you get the idea…..

12:20pm Just when we all started to get optimistic, here comes the rain again. It seems crazy because there is lots of blue sky in the distance, just this big cloud over the ground. Although looking at the weather forecast we should have some thunder and lightning in the next couple of hours too. Welcome to Cricket in Ireland!

The blotter is still going up and down on the outfield, although the busiest people seem to be the guys selling food in the burger vans. Not a single person at the ice-cream van. That might be the only place we see a "99" from today….

11:45am Well, well, well this could be interesting….. THE RAIN HAS STOPPED. No seriously it has.  The real question is whether its going to come back again. Talking to the groundstaff here it might take a couple of hours for the ground to dry enough for the Umpires to have a look. There is a strong breeze blowing across the ground, although whether it will blow in another rain shower in or not, who's to say?

There is a smattering of Pakistan fans who have drifted into the ground, to fit in a twenty over game you would expect us to be starting at around 4pm. Lets hope that we can get something going today…

11:15am Its still hammering down here I'm afraid, the Pakistan players still haven't come to the ground and it wouldn't surprise me if the Umpires decide to have an early lunch here.  The only action that we have seen so far is when the blotter almost took out former Ireland spin bowler Kyle McCallan, as he ran across the outfield and into the hospitality tent. So the wait goes on….

10.35am The rain is still falling here at Malahide, it has started to get a bit brighter but the water just keeps coming down from the sky. With more rain on the way it really doesn't look good for the game today. The fact that the groundstaff have started

dismantling the advertising hoardings shows you what they think!

The blotter is being taken around the outfield but it seems doesn't seem to able to do much in this deluge.

10:00am Good Morning and welcome to the final game of the two match ODI series between Ireland and Pakistan. Its Justin Smyth here again at Malahide to bring you coverage of today's game, recovered from the first game yet?

Pakistan simply out-classed Ireland in the first game, with Sharjeel Khan smashing the ball to all parts of the ground in his classy 152 off 86 balls. It managed to help propel Pakistan to a massive 337, the third time in a row that Ireland have let their opponents score over 300. Will we see a fourth time today?

It didn't get much better when Ireland went out to bat, 82 all out. The lowest score for Ireland in an ODI in Ireland, the second lowest ODI score for Ireland ever. They just couldn't cope with the pace of Mohammad Amir and Umar Gul, with Imad Wasim coming in at the end and taking his first five for in an ODI for Pakistan. A winning margin of 255 certainly didn't flatter Pakistan and I'm sure that the last 48 hours have meant a lot of

uncomfortable conversations in the Ireland camp.

The good news for the Ireland team is that most of them will get an opportunity to gain some revenge today, it would not be a surprise if they decide to rest Peter Chase today after his 7 overs went for 70 on Thursday. After an injury hit summer, Craig Young who last played an ODI against Zimbabwe in October 2015, could come into the team. John Bracewell, the Ireland coach might be tempted to bring the experienced John Anderson in to shore up the batting, possibly at the expense of Stuart Poynter.

It seems strange to say this but Pakistan might look to strengthen their team today. Both Wahib Riaz and Yasir Shah missed out on Thursday's game, with the 5 match ODI series against England just around the corner Pakistan might want to give them a run out today. I'm sure that Azhar Ali will be looking to spend some time in the middle, he looked very

disappointed to have been given out after a 12 ball 1.

Although all this talk might just be that, talk. The weather is always looking to intervene when cricket is played in Ireland and today is no different. Its absolutely bucketing down. It's such a shame that the weather has decided to play up today, the crowd today was expected to be even bigger then Thursday's game. What can you do if the rain just doesn't want to stop?

PLAYING XI
IRE
PAK
PLAYER
ROLE
Top order Batter
Bowler
Wicketkeeper Batter
Batter
Batting Allrounder
Wicketkeeper Batter
Batter
Batting Allrounder
Wicketkeeper Batter
Bowler
Bowler
Bowling Allrounder
Bowler
Match details
The Village, Malahide, Dublin
Tossno toss
Series
Season2016
Series resultPakistan won the 2-match series 1-0
Match numberODI no. 003767a
Hours of play (local time)10.45 start, First Session 10.45-14.15, Interval 14.15-15.00, Second Session 15.00-18.30
Match days20 August 2016 - day (50-over match)
Umpires
TV Umpire
Reserve Umpire
Match Referee