Bryce's maiden ton in vain as Ireland knock Scotland out of contention for World Cup

Scotland and Ireland signed off from the women's World Cup Qualifier with a thriller that saw Ireland complete their highest successful ODI chase, off the last ball of the game and with one wicket in hand, and knock Scotland out of contention of the World Cup. Both teams finished on four points.

The result left the race for the second World Cup qualifier spot down to two teams on the final day of the tournament, where Bangladesh play already-qualified Pakistan and West Indies meet Thailand. Bangladesh are currently in second place and have some wriggle room. They do not need to beat Pakistan to qualify, and could get there with a loss, provided West Indies do not go past their net run-rate. West Indies must beat Thailand by a big margin in order to give themselves a chance of going through.

Both Scotland and Ireland would be disappointed at missing out, especially after Scotland beat West Indies in their opener and were in the mix going into this game. They needed to beat Ireland to stay in contention and gave themselves as good a chance as they could after posting their highest ODI score of 268 for 7.

Captain Kathryn Bryce was the architect of the total, scoring her first ODI century to help Scotland recover from 19 for 3 in the powerplay to set Ireland a challenging target. Bryce has also scored two half-centuries in the qualifier and with 293 runs, is the leading run-scorer.

Her innings was a wonderful mix of accuracy and aggression as she pierced gaps in the field and struck 14 fours and two sixes, mostly through the covers and over midwicket. Bryce shared in four half-century stands: a run-a-ball 62 with Ailsa Lister, 65 with Katherine Fraser, 51 with Priyanaz Chatterji, and 52 off 30 balls with Rachel Slater, who was with her when her hundred came up. Bryce got there with a slash over the covers off the 122nd ball she faced. She went on to score 31 more runs off the next 15 deliveries and showed off an excellent ability to accelerate at the death.

Ireland's prospects of reaching the World Cup were gone after their third loss earlier in the week and they approached their innings like a side with nothing to lose. Sarah Forbes and Gaby Lewis put on 109 for the first wicket and Forbes went on to her first ODI fifty to set Ireland up well. Forbes was run out when she ran from the non-striker's end almost to Lewis, who had swept and turned down the single, but it was too late to send Forbes back. Amy Hunter was caught behind two balls later and Lewis, on 61, followed in the same fashion and Scotland were clawing their way back.

Orla Prendergast looked good for her 33 but popped a simple catch to Lister at mid-on in the 35th over, with Ireland still 89 runs away from victory. Scotland dismissed Leah Paul, Louise Little and Sophie MacMahon in the space of 23 deliveries and at 209 for 7, Ireland looked out of the game. But Laura Delany had not yet had her full say. She had No. 8 Jane Maguire for company and they put on 53 runs for the eighth wicket to leave Scotland scrambling.

Delany reached fifty off 55 balls at the end of the 47th over, with Ireland still needing 20 runs off the last 18 balls. Byrce took matters into her own hands. She already had figures of 2 for 37 from seven overs and brought herself on to bowl the 48th and 50th over. She conceded seven runs in the 48th over. Ireland needed 13 from 12. Slater was tasked with the penultimate over and six runs were scored off her first five balls before she had Maguire caught on the leg-side boundary as she tried to leave as little as possible to do in the last over. Maguire was dismissed for a career-best 28 and Ireland seven to win off the last over.

It was all up to Bryce. She started with a dot ball to Delany and then gave away a single which brought the new batter, No. 10, Ava Canning, on strike. She took guard on middle stump, Bryce bowled it on that line and Canning scooped the ball out to long-on, where a diving fielder could not get to it in time to haul it in. That boundary left Ireland needing two runs off the last three balls and still Bryce wasn't done. She bowled Canning, who played a loose drive, and Ireland needed two off two. Cara Murray padded the ball to the off side and Ireland ran one to level scores. With tensions running high, Delany tried to flick the final ball, missed and it trickled off her pad, but she ran with all she had to seal Ireland's win in the most epic of Celtic clashes.