The West Indies hopes of automatic qualification to the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup took a massive hit today.

This as the  one-off  one-day  international  between  the  West  Indies  and  Ireland  was abandoned  without  a  ball  being  bowled.

The  game  at  the  civil service cricket club in  Belfast  which  would  have  been  the  first one  day  international  for  Ireland  since  becoming  a  full  ICC member, was  called  off  by  the  umpires  after  lunch  because  of  rain.

The  start  of  the  game was  initially  delayed  because  of  a  wet  outfield, but  the  rains  came  during  the  lunch  break…..forcing  the  decision to  abandon  the  encounter.

The news  is  a  setback  for  the  windies  who  were hoping to  use  the  game   to  assist  their  bid  for  direct  qualification  to  the  2019 ICC  World  Cup, with 6 one-day internationals left for them to play before the cut-off point.

The West Indies will now have to win all five games against England to have any chance of direct qualification to the 2019 world cup.