There was heavy overnight rain in Dublin, one prolonged burst before midnight and another after six on Tuesday morning. The Inch, Balrothery, was damp, but dried out sufficiently for an 11:45 start and no loss of overs.

Norway won the toss and batted. Zaheer Ashiq and Sameer Sachdev put on 18 before the latter was bowled by Lars Hedegaard. Nine runs later Zaheer (22) fell to a stunning leaping catch at mid on by Vestergaard off the same bowler.

Safir Hayat and Syed Ahmed took the score to 68 without incident against steady bowling, when Syed Ahmed was out for 29. One run later Shakeel Ahmad fell to a catch behind off Bashir Shah's first ball. Shakeel didn't like it, but he had to go.

Safir Hayat ground it out for 16 off 61 deliveries, but was the first of three wickets to fall quickly. When Muhammed Ali was out for an attractive 26, Norway were 112/6 and in trouble.

But Etsham ul Haq and Muhammad Butt compiled an attractive partnership of 64, ended when Etsham was out for 23. Khalid Khurram was quickly run out, but Adeel Ibrar hung around with Butt, being run out off the penultimate ball for 11.

Muhammad Butt was undefeated on 46, full of neat shots, particularly the late cut or gully glide. 206 (27 extras) was never going to be enough, but it was something to bowl at. For Denmark, Lars Hedegaard took 2/35 and leg-spinner Bobby Chowla 3/34.

Left-handers Freddie Klokker and Michael Pedersen made sure that Norway's bowlers weren't given the slightest encouragement, Freddie favouring the pull and Michael the drive. Klokker was in the forties when he was dropped off a dolly catch to Zeeshan Siddiqui.

Freddie completed a run-a-ball fifty and was as interested as the rest of us in Siddiqui's off breaks. He has a big wrist action, but occasionally it's not just his wrist that bends. ICC regulations require that the bowler's arm straighten through at least 15 degrees before he can be called for throwing.

What's so special about 15 degrees? The party line is that only such a straightening should be visible to the naked eye. The cynics think that it's more likely that Murali chucks his doosra through 14.5 degrees. Umpires Ramage and Bagh had a chat about it, and in the absence of a protractor kept schtumm.

A pie's a pie no matter how served up, and Pedersen had completed his fifty before he misplaced a Siddiqui pie to extra cover. Carsten Pedersen suffered the ignominy of being caught by Siddiqui for 5, but Klokker carried on his merry way, reaching his ton at a run-a-ball with 16 fours and ending on 119*.

Soren Vestergaard thumped a big six towards the road to finish proceedings in the 38th over at 210/2. Norway's best bowler was leggie Safir Hayat, with 6-2-14-0. The bowling and fielding went from poor to awful, nowhere near Senior League standard, let alone European Division 1 international standard.

This is a shame, because there's obviously a fair amount of talent and no small commitment in Norway's ranks. They've come from nowhere, and should be given every assistance not to return there.