Afghans stun Ireland

CRICKET NEWS:THE NOTION that Ireland's qualification for the next World Cup was little short of a cake walk was blown out of the water at Krugersdorp on Saturday as Afghanistan continued their fairytale rise in international cricket with a 22-run victory over an Ireland side previously unbeaten in the competition.

If Ireland’s heroics in the Caribbean was the rags to riches story of the last World Cup, then the Afghans’ rise from the lower reaches of the international game is truly sensational.

Most of their players first took up the game in refugee camps in the Pakistan city of Peshawar and they have made it to South Africa after a whistle-stop tour of the world that saw them come through qualification events in Jersey, Tanzania and Argentina.

On Saturday they made their biggest statement of intent so far, with a well-deserved victory in the opening round of Super Eights matches.

Having been put into bat, the Afghans recovered from 101 for five to post a decent total of 218.

Ireland’s reply got off to a poor start with openers William Porterfield and Gary Wilson out within the first four overs.

Eoin Morgan then played on for 20. Niall O’Brien had made 29 before he perished to a direct hit as he tried to scamper a second run, and when Alex Cusack was stumped for 14 attempting a sweep.

A second century partnership of the tournament between White and Kevin O’Brien looked to have put Ireland back on course, until the dramatic return of Afghan opening bowler Hamid Hassan.

He bowled White for 56 in the 45th over and followed it up with three wickets in his next over as O’Brien (52), Regan West (0) and Peter Connell (1) all departed.

John Mooney was joined by Boyd Rankin, but the pair only lasted another three balls.

Although Ireland remain joint top of the table, they still require two victories from their remaining three games to secure qualification. They will target today’s clash the UAE for one of those.

Scoreboard at Stan Friedman Oval

AFGHANISTAN

N Ali lbw b Mooney 18

K Sadiq c Mooney b Connell 6

M Shehzad run out 46

N Mangal c Wilson b White 23

A Stankizai c and b Cusack 47

M Nabi c and b White 0

R Ahmadzai not out 50

S Shinwari b Connell 14

K Noori not out 1

Extras (b6, lb4, w3) 13

Total (for 7 wkts, 50 ovs) 218

Did not bat:H Hassan, N Nasrat.

Fall of wickets:1-9, 2-46, 3-84, 4-101, 5-101, 6-190, 7-212

Bowling:P Connell 7-1-36-2; B Rankin 7-0-37-0; J Mooney 8-1-38-1; A Cusack 6-0-30-1; R West 10-2-35-0; A White 10-0-27-2; E Morgan 2-0-5-0.

IRELAND

W Porterfield b Hassan 4

G Wilson b Noori 1

E Morgan b Sadiq 20

N O’Brien run out 29

A Cusack st Shehzad b Shinwari 14

A White b Hassan 56

K O’Brien b Hassan 5

J Mooney b Nabi 4

R West c Shehzad b Hassan 0

P Connell b Hasson 1

B Rankin not out 0

Extras (b1, lb3, w11) 15

Total (all out, 47.3 ovs) 196

Fall of wickets:1-4, 2-6, 3-40, 4-62, 5-73, 6-186, 7-194, 8-194, 9-196.

Bowling:H Hassan 9-2-23-5; K Noori 5-1-20-1; M Nabi 9.3-1-30-1; K Sadiq 7-0-35-1; S Shinwari 8-45-1; N Nasrat 9-0-39-0.

Afghanistan won by 22 runs.

Man of the Match:Hamid Hassan.

Other results:Canada bt Kenya by 7 wkts; Scotland bt Netherlands by 26 runs; Namibia bt UAE by 49 runs. Today's fixtures: Ireland v UAE; Canada v Afghanistan; Scotland v Kenya; Namibia v Netherlands.