The Proteas secured their qualification to the 50-over Cricket World Cup in India later this year after the first one-day international between Ireland and Bangladesh ended in a no-result washout.
If Ireland wanted to move up from 11th place in the points standings, they needed to win all three of their games against Bangladesh in a series that was played at Chelmsford, the county seat of Essex, England.
Ireland cannot overtake South Africa in the World Cup Super League (WCSL) standings even if they win the current series 2-0.
Ireland will now have to participate in the qualifying tournament, which will take place in Zimbabwe from June 18 through July 9, along with former champions West Indies and Sri Lanka.
At 4:34 p.m. local time (1534 GMT), bad lighting and rain stopped play as the Irish were chasing Bangladesh’s 246-9 total made from all 50 overs with a score of 65-3 in the 17th over.
Under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern rule for rain-affected games, Ireland’s innings had to have at least 20 overs bowled before a decision could be made about the outcome.
However, the match was abandoned at 1800 GMT because the umpires thought it was too wet to resume play.
Josh Little, who recently had success in the Indian Premier League, led Ireland’s attack with 3-61. Graham Hume and Mark Adair each took two wickets as Bangladesh was held to a seemingly low total on a good pitch.
On his 36th birthday, Mushfiqur Rahim led the Tigers in scoring with 61 points in front of 3,000 spectators at Chelmsford, the majority of whom were Bangladeshi fans.
44 was made by Najmul Hossain Shanto.
However, Ireland quickly found themselves in trouble at 27-2 after losing captain Andrew Balbirnie and veteran opener Paul Stirling.
On Friday, the series will continue.
The top eight finishers in the three-year-old WCSL competition receive the first spots in the 10-team World Cup.
England, India, New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, the current champions, have already secured their spots.
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