Ireland will fly home from Sri Lanka after their slim chance of reaching the last eight of the T20 World Cup was ended by persistent rain in Kandy, forcing an abandonment of their final match against Zimbabwe without a ball bowled.

Making progress from Group B was always a long shot after two early losses and the drizzle at the Pallekele ground ended the campaign as Zimbabwe gained the point they needed to go through at the expense of Australia as well as the Boys in Green.

While Ireland could pack their bags last night, the over-confident Aussies have to hang around until Friday to play Oman in a meaningless last game. 

George Dockrell, who seems to have re-invented himself more times than Doctor Who, has most reason to enjoy the flight back after reestablishing himself as a frontline bowler, in addition to his ever-improving power hitting.

At the age of 33, a poor tournament could have spelt the end of his 16 years in the international set-up, instead he was Ireland’s top performer, with Lorcan Tucker and Gareth Delany joining him on the podium.

Tucker’s 94 not out against Oman was Ireland’s highest score, Delany made the other half-century, there were also impressive knocks from Ross Adair and Harry Tector against Sri Lanka, while Dockrell clearly enjoyed his new position at No 8.

Led by Dockrell, the spinners got through the majority of the overs with Tector filling in where required, Delany finding consistency with his leg-spin, and Matthew Humphreys taking the responsibility of bowling the first over of the powerplay.

It was never going to be a tournament for seamers but Mark Adair and Barry McCarthy’s joint return of 7-222 from 20 overs across the three games was below par, and made a nonsense of overlooking Josh Little who claimed 3-16 in his one match, albeit against Oman.

Coach Heinrich Malan was obviously disappointed not to qualify for last eight, but not with the work that went into his side’s preparations.

“We gave ourselves a really good chance with the way we went through our pre-World Cup training camp,” he said.

“We had two very difficult games starting off but finding ourselves in the position we did against Sri Lanka was a big part of what we planned for. We knew that we could really have a good chance against them in that first game.

“The end of a World Cup is the end of a cycle, and there are always decisions and questions being asked, and things to reflect on.

“Questions about the playing group and the way we go about our business will be asked, and that's just fair, that's how professional sports work and then we'll regroup and we’ll start looking at what the next challenge is.”

Malan knows that when a tournament doesn’t quite go to plan, there is always the temptation to demand wholesale changes but such is the instant nature of T20 cricket that entire campaigns can hinge on a couple of loose overs or a dropped catch.

As he said, Ireland came close to beating Sri Lanka in that opening game and probably would have but for one glaring mistake in the field. What then? The rain in Kandy might have been a blessing.