DHAKA: Afghanistan finally sealed the maiden win over Scotland in the nail-biting match of ICC World Cup in Dunedin on Thursday.
Asghar Stanikzai’s nervous ninety and Javed Ahmadi’s opening fifty helped reach the 211-run target with one wicket and three balls remaining in the Pool A match at University Oval.
Afghanistan’s Samiullah Shenwari missed the hundreds, scoring 96 runs off 147 balls. He built his innings with seven fours and five sixes. RM Haq stopped Shenwari.
Javed Ahmadi added 51 runs off 51, hitting with eight boundaries. Only two other batsmen - Hamid Hassan and Shapoor Zadran - reached the double digit.
Scotland’s RD Berrington took four wickets while JH Davey and AC Evans bagged two each and RM Haq picked up a wicket.
Earlier Scotland made a combined effort, scoring 210 runs all out in 50 ov. MW Machan and RM Haq scored 31 runs each. AC Evans added 28 runs, KJ Coetzer. RD Berrington scored 25 each. PL Mommsen and MH Cross contributed 23 and 15 respectively.
Afghanistan also added 25 runs to Scotland’s scoreboard as extras.
Shapoor Zadran and Dawlat Zadran were most successful bowlers, taking four and three wickets respectively.
Hamid Hassan, Gulbadin Naib and Mohammad Nabi bagged a wicket each.
Shenwari is Man of the Match "Thanks to Allah, thankful to stay there in the end and give the win for Afghanistan. We lost five wickets early and I had the resposibility to stay there till the end. Poor shot, but I was trying to get a six. Good win for us in the tournament and we are looking forward to win more and get into the Super Eight"
Winning Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi said: “This is our first win in the World Cup and everyone enjoys this one. The pressure was great. The boys didn’t bat well, four five wickets early but Sami [Shenwari] played very well.”
“Good learning experience about handling the pressure and for our upcoming games, it's good as well. Putting two points on the board. Hope we win more games, everyone would have enjoyed this game. its out first win in the World Cup. We've had good support here and also back home," Mohammad Nabi added.
Defeated Scotland captain PL Mommsen said :"Particularly difficult for us," says Mommsen, "We knew what to expect. We knew if we were patient we can take a couple of wickets and get more. We had them seven down, but we couldn't do it. Obviously we were trying to take wickets the whole time. Those 8, 9, 10, but unfortunately it wasn't to be."
BDST: 1318 HRS, FEB 26, 2015
