IRELAND women had to settle for the consolation of a place in next year’s T20 World Cup and not the icing on the cake of winning the qualifying tournament when they lost to Bangladesh by seven runs in Abu Dhabi last night.

After beating Zimbabwe on Friday to secure the last available plane tickets to South Africa in February, the Girls in Green were looking to repeat their success in the 2015 qualifier when they beat the same opposition off the final ball of a feisty final.

Arlene Kelly was the pick of the Ireland attack, bowling a maiden in the powerplay and returning figures of 2-17 from her four overs while Cara Murray and skipper Laura Delany also took two wickets each to restrict Bangladesh to a manageable 120-8.

Ireland lost their batting big three of Gaby Lewis, Amy Hunter and Orla Prendergast in the powerplay, though, and after a promising stand of 23 between Delany and Eimear Richardson a clatter of three wickets in 10 balls reduced the reply to 49-6 in the 11th over.

Wicketkeeper Mary Waldron produced a couple of lusty blows to make 19 from 17 balls and Kelly kept hope alive with a top score of 28 not out but Ireland were unable to find the 15 required from the final over and finished well beaten on 113-9.