Ireland score 237, Afghanistan to start their innings tomorrow

Afghanistan’s second game in the WCL Division One has been put on hold due to rain at the VOC ground in Rotterdam. Play will resume tomorrow with Afghanistan’s reply to Ireland’s 237-9.

At one stage it did look that Afghanistan would be chasing a lot less. The opening bowlers, Shapoor Zardan and Khaliq Dad, had reduced Ireland to 27-3. A slow, rebuilding partnership developed from there, with Kevin O’Brien and Andrew Poynter, who finished top run-scorer with 84, adding 79.

There were small contributions all the way down before Trent Johnson, Ireland’s captain for this tournament, smashed 42 off 28 balls to take Ireland to their end total of 237. Then, a mixture of light drizzle and heavy rain meant there was to be no further play. Luckily there are reserve days in this competition so they will come back tomorrow.

In Afghanistan’s bowling, a pleasing sight was to see Hamid Hassan, expensive in his last two matches, if not back to his best, close to it, as he picked up three wickets. However, the basics of the game once again let Afghanistan down. As in last match there were no-balls. No-balls can be so damaging for the bowling team as the batting team receive a free-hit; the batsman can just swing without any danger of getting out. There were 4 no-balls today, three less than the other day, but no less acceptable. As well, there were 4 dropped catches. If the Afghan fielders had taken these chances, they wouldn’t have to chase as many as they do. Although Afghanistan did field very well in the World T20, it has always been a problem area. Afghanistan haven’t got a batting coach, so it is unlikely that they will get a fielding coach.

They won’t have to worry about fielding tomorrow at least, as they attempt to chase 238 runs. It is 20 runs less than the other day against Canada, although it is a different pitch, different ground and, most importantly, a different attack they have to contend with. Ireland have a very good bowling line-up for this level and these types of conditions, so it will be a hard chase. Nevertheless, Afghanistan need less than 5 runs per over, and if they can get off to a solid start as they did against Canada, the chase should be a manageable one.

To see the scorecard of the match so far, click here. To get live commentary of Afghanistan’s innings, click here.

While rain prevented a conclusion to Afghanistan’s match, the other two games today finished – although rain interrupted as well. Netherlands won their first game of the tournament, thrashing Kenya, who have lost both games now, by 117 runs. Scotland also won their second game as they eased past Canada, who like Kenya are winless and pointless. This match was severely hampered by rain but Scotland still had time to win by 69 runs by the Duckworth-Lewis Method.