Chelmsford makes and breaks more World Cup dreams

Chelmsford seems a strange place for World Cup dreams to be made and broken. It holds a mere 6,500 spectators, has snug boundaries, a slope and a sparse sprinkling of squat structures, and has served as a standby emergency helipad for a nearby hospital. Yet it has been a field of dreams and was again on Tuesday.

Ireland went into their three men's ODIs against Bangladesh at the Essex county ground on Tuesday knowing they needed a series whitewash and at least one big win to boost their net runrate. Anything else and they would not qualify directly for this year's World Cup in India in October and November.

South Africa knew that, too. They would displace Ireland and claim eighth spot in the final World Cup Super League (WCSL) standings, and thus qualify directly, if one of this week's games was won by Bangladesh or washed out. Either Ireland and South Africa, then, were on their way to the qualifiers in Zimbabwe in June and July.

Irish eyes were smiling when they reduced Bangladesh to 52/3 inside 12 overs on Tuesday, but half-century stands by Najmal Hossain and Towhid Hridoy, and Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehidy Hasan Miraz took the total to 246/9. Ireland faced 16.3 overs, reaching 65/3, before rain decided the issue.

So it's off to Zim with them. They've been shot in this movie before. The 1997 Champions Trophy in Malaysia was the qualifier for the 1999 World Cup, and Ireland's fourth place meant they missed out while Bangladesh, Kenya and Scotland - the other semifinalists - made it.

The Irish were runners-up to Scotland in the Champions Trophy at home in 2005, and consequently made their World Cup debut in the Caribbean in 2007. They gave the ICC and hotel managers headaches by beating India and Pakistan and doing much to eliminate the Asian giants - and many of their travelling supporters - from the Super Eights. Not bad for a side who went into the tournament ranked 14th out of the 16 competing teams.

Ireland won the 2009 qualifying tournament in South Africa, which put them in the 2011 World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. This time England were the giants they downed.

South Africa have never had to fight it out in qualifying to reach a World Cup. They played their first in Australia and New Zealand in 1992, when they were snuck into the field shortly before the tournament despite the fact that apartheid was still the law of their land.

To have to muck in with the minnows in Zimbabwe would have been a shock to South Africa's system. Often among the favoured teams to win the World Cup but never a finalist, they and their fans look on the tournament as the holy grail. Not many South Africans can imagine them winning it, and none can say how doing so would change the game in their country.

Temba Bavuma's team would have gone to India with more competitive cricket under their belts if they had to detour through Zimbabwe. But they might also have taken on board an inflated measure of their strengths, considering the relative weakness of most of the opposition they would have faced in the qualifier.

This way the South Africans will be under no illusion that they only just got the last seats on the last flight to India. Australia's eight white-ball games in South Africa in August and September should be a stronger indication of how close they are to being cleared for take-off.

What did Tuesday's outcome mean to the Bangladeshis? Probably not a lot considering they went into the rubber in fourth place in the WCSL standings, and so had already qualified. The visitors' main challenge could be to stay interested enough to give a decent account of themselves on Friday and Sunday. A spot of local lore in which they feature might help them in that regard.

Almost 163 years after Chelmsford hosted its first match and nearly 98 years since its inaugural first-class game it has yet to be awarded a Test. But only 10 of the 354 grounds in England and Wales where men's first-class cricket has been played have been so honoured. All three of Chelmsford's men's ODIs before this series were World Cup games, and all three were momentous.

India took their first noteworthy step towards triumph in 1983 by beating Australia there to avenge an earlier defeat by the Aussies in the tournament at Trent Bridge. The Indians were bowled out for 247 and Madan Lal and Roger Binny shared eight wickets as Australia collapsed for 129.

Bangladesh played their inaugural World Cup match at Chelmsford in 1999. They were dismissed for 116 with Geoff Allott, Chris Cairns and Gavin Larsen taking three wickets each. New Zealand won by six wickets with 17 overs to spare.

A dozen days later Zimbabwe achieved the first of what remains only two victories in their 56 matches against South Africa across the formats at Chelmsford. Neil Johnson's 76 powered Zimbabwe's 233/6 and the South Africans, clearly lacklustre and probably complacent in their last group game, were rattled out for 185.

That was South Africa's only loss during the group stage. It would mean they finished below Australia in the Super Six standings - a fact that sealed Hansie Cronje's team's infamous elimination when the Australia-South Africa semifinal at Edgbaston was tied. Despite the drama Chelmsford delivered that day not one of the subsequent 575 men's internationals played in England found its way to this ground before Tuesday.

Considering the hiding Bangladesh suffered on their only other visit to Chelmsford it is a small mercy none of that XI are part of the current support staff. Several members of Ireland's squad have first-hand knowledge of a range of English county grounds, but none of them had played at Chelmsford before. Gary Wilson, Ryan Eagleson and Nathan Hauritz - Ireland's batting and wicketkeeping, fast bowling and spin bowling coaches - stepped over Chelmsford's boundaries as players 10 times between them.

After this week the Bangladeshis will have more reasons to remember Chelmsford. So will the Irish, but their eyes won't be smiling.