Ireland qualify and West Indies likely tomorrow

Ireland claimed the first of two places up for grabs in the next Women's World Cup at the International Women's Cricket Council Trophy tournament, beating the Netherlands by 46 runs in a rain-affected match.

Ireland scored 156 when dismissed with one ball left in their 50 overs. Catriona Beggs scored 34 and Miriam Grealey 22 while extras totalled 30. Jolet Hartenhof took 2 for 17 from her eight overs and Birgit Viguurs 2 for 32 from eight also. Under the Duckworth/Lewis method, the Netherlands needed to score 134 to win in 41 overs. Caroline Salomons scored 30 and extras 29 and the best of the Irish bowlers was Barbara McDonald who took 2 for 13 off 10 overs.

In the wooden spoon match, Scotland scored 142 in 45 overs against Japan with an amaxzing 73 extra. Yuko Sasaki took 2 for 6 off three overs. Japan responded with 85 off 46 overs, where 55 of the runs came in extras. Fiona Campbell took 4 for 25 off 10 overs.

The West Indies took a big step towards gaining a World Cup place by beating Pakistan. They now need only to beat the hapless Japanese tomorrow to take the prize. Pakistan were dismissed for 93 in their 50 overs with Sajjida Shah scored 20 while Indomatie Goordial took 4 for 17 off 10 overs. The West Indies took only 34 overs to scored 94 for 3 of which Nelly Williams contributed 27.