Ireland take on Pakistan in Lauderhill, Florida this morning in the deadest of dead rubbers at the T20 World Cup. Both sides are packed and ready to leave, the taxis for Miami airport idling outside the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground preparing for a hasty exit this afternoon.

The final axe was wielded on Friday by the ‘tropical moisture’ that forced Florida governor Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency in five counties in the south of the state, but there can be little begrudgery of the USA’s progress to the Super Eights at the expense of Ireland and Pakistan.

The hosts showed they had made enormous progress in recent years, with a string of good wins and the bonus of qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup. If they continue to pick up good results they will be well placed to claim their slot at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, which will guarantee increased funding and profile that could propel them into the front rank of associates.

Ireland, meanwhile, are drawing unwanted international attention after a series of poor displays and embarrassing scandals. Paul Stirling’s team had appeared to turn around a decade of T20 woes but it all went badly wrong in New York.

BBC Test Match Special commentator Andy Leonard, a Dubliner, said on Friday. ‘I imagine it is going to be the most forlorn Irish dressing room, this is not indicative of where Irish cricket is at by any stretch of the imagination,’ he added.

No-one expected Ireland to beat India, although their surrender was tamer than supporters are used to, even allowing for the substandard pitches at the Long Island venue. The side really let itself down in the game against Canada, a side Ireland have rarely found a problem. The vaunted toss was won, giving the bowlers first use of the track, and the first eight overs went to plan, Canada struggling on 53-4.

In came Sreyyas Movva and Nicholas Kirton, the latter of whom had arrived in New York with a growing reputation, but a known weakness against short-pitched bowling. Seamer Craig Young greeted him with a short delivery that whistled past his helmet. The next time they tested Kirton thus, Barry McCarthy induced a catch to short leg. Trouble was, he had made 49 runs by then.

Ireland bowled poorly for the ten overs the Canadian pair batted together. They cost 75 runs and Canada were well on the way to the highest total made in the eight World Cup matches on the ground, 137 for 7. Ireland made the second highest, 125 for 7, but scoring two boundaries in the first 15 overs condemned them to defeat.

Cricket Ireland’s go-to tactic after a dismal tournament performance is to hire expensive consultants to conduct a review, which is delivered months later and promptly ignored.

One person who need not fear any fall-out is head coach Heinrich Malan, who despite failing to qualify for the 50-over World Cup in 2023, was offered and signed a two-year extension to his contract two weeks before this tournament.

That eccentric move apes the two biggest international sporting bodies in the country. The IRFU handed Eddie O’Sullivan a four-year extension just before the 2007 Rugby World Cup, which turned into a shambles with Ireland failing even to get out of their group. Another poor Six Nations and he resigned eight months after signing his new contract.

And the FAI did the same with Giovanni Trapattoni, who signed a two-year deal in November 2011 but saw the Republic of Ireland lose all three games at Euro 2012. He was gone a year later.

The team will return home to a spartan summer with just a Test in Stormont against Zimbabwe to look forward to. Cricket Ireland’s financial woes saw it cancel the plum fixture against Australia, and its famed skill at diplomacy will need to be on top form to extricate itself from the fall-out from snubbing one of the most powerful countries in the sport. Scotland were positively gloating when they announced on Friday, with some fanfare, that they would host the Aussies in three T20s in September.

We then have the obscenity of Ireland ‘hosting’ South Africa in Abu Dhabi later the same month, again denying all but its wealthiest supporters a chance to see the team.

The players will regroup, should collect another Test win against Zimbabwe, and aim for the next tournament which will come around pretty quickly. They will have to pre-qualify for the next T20 if Scotland, Nepal or the Netherlands reach the Super 8s this weekend.

World cricket is a like a shark: you have to keep moving to survive. Ireland’s challenge is to find a way to swim away and leave the Florida shore far behind.