A washout in the opening one-day international between Ireland and Bangladesh saw South Africa pip Ireland to the final automatic World Cup spot.
Tuesday's match in Chelmsford was abandoned due to rain with Ireland on 63-3 after 16.3 overs in response to 246-9 from Bangladesh.
Ireland needed to win this ODI series 3-0 to retain hope of securing World Cup qualification through this route, but will still have one more chance.
Bangladesh have already qualified.
With two more spots for the World Cup in India later this year yet to be decided, Ireland can still make it through a 10-team qualifying tournament in June-July in Zimbabwe.
Other teams involved in the qualifier include two former champions, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.
The first spots in the 10-team World Cup go to the top eight finishers of the WCSL, a competition that has run over the last three years.
Cricket Ireland relocated this week's ODI games from its own home venues to Essex in the hope of minimising the potential impact of the weather, but saw its worst fears realised by heavy showers.
Just 16.3 overs were possible in the second innings, with a minimum of 20 needed to achieve a result on Duckworth Lewis Stern.
Left-armer Josh Little, who jetted back from the Indian Premier League to take part in the series, took 3-61 on his return to Irish colours including opener Litton Das and top-scorer Mushfiqur Rahim.
Graham Hume excelled with figures of 2-32 from his 10 overs and Mark Adair also claimed 2-44.
Bangladesh looked vulnerable at the halfway stage but made a strong start with the new ball, the dangerous Paul Stirling falling to Shoriful Islam for 15 and captain Andy Balbirnie bowled by Hasan Mahmud with just five to his name.
Stephen Doheny and Harry Tector then added 36 for the third wicket before the former was caught and bowled by Taijul Islam just before the clouds opened.
Play never looked likely to resume and the result was confirmed shortly after 19:00. The second game takes place at the same ground on Friday.
Source: BBC
BDST: 1244 HRS, MAY 10, 2023
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