Ireland and Netherlands had to settle on sharing the World Twenty20 Qualifiers trophy after persistent rain lashed Belfast, but they both already had the main prize in their pockets - a place at next year's tournamentin England. Netherlands were due to bat after Ireland won the toss, but that was as far as proceedings got and the game was finally called off at 4.30pm.

Netherlands captain Jeroen Smits said: "Obviously it is disappointing because as a cricketer, you want to go out there and try to give your best performance instead of sitting in the dressing room and waiting for the match to start.

"As an Associate team, we would like to play as many Twenty20 matches as possible and when one match is washed-out, it's an opportunity lost. But as it has panned out, we are joint-winner and a winner is a winner. So I am happy."

Ireland's next engagement is the Intercontinental Cup on Thursday against Canada in Malahide, while on the same day Netherlands meet Bermuda for the first of two one-dayers at Amstelveen.