Afghanistan played their final game of the World Cricket League Division One today, winning by 5 wickets over The Netherlands in the third place play-off match. After the disappointment of losing their virtual semi-final against Scotland, they did well to motivate themselves – in a game that had little meaning.
Winning the toss and batting first, The Netherlands struggled for any real impetus, and finished on 218-5. Tom Cooper, as he did on Wednesday, proved a thorn in the side for Afghanistan, as he scored 96. The pick of the bowlers was Mirwais Ashraf with 2-20 from 6 overs. Ashraf, who has been injured, was playing his first match in the tournament, as was Aftab Alam, the young medium-pacer.
Afghanistan easily chased down the target with 5 wickets and four overs remaining. The openers, Javed Ahmadi and Shabir Noori, departed early, and it was down once again to Mohammad Shahzad to get them out of a hole. He did, thankfully, as at first he was helped by Nawroz Mangal, and then Asgher Stanikzai, who scored 64. Shahzad was the top run-scorer, though, with 84 runs off 108 balls. Karim Sadiq and Mohammad Nabi were the not-out men at the end.
Afghanistan will fly back to Kabul tomorrow. Their next matches will be on the tour of Scotland, where they will play an important four-day match and 2 ODIs.
For scorecard, click here
Ireland won the tournament after they beat Scotland by 6 wickets. Canada won the 5/6 play-off match against Kenya by 3 wickets.
