AFGHANISTAN RAISE THE ALAM

AFGHANISTAN beat Ireland by 109 runs in the fourth ODI in Dehradun to go 2-1 up in the series with one game to go. Despite Afghanistan crashing to 81-6 during their first innings, half-centuries from Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan guided the hosts to a competitive total of 223. Aftab Alam then starred with the ball, collecting figures of 425 to take Afghanistan to a comfortable win. Ireland once again produced a tidy allround bowling display, with James CameronDow’s 3-32 the highlight, but they perhaps lacked the cutting edge to deliver the knockout punch while the Afghans were floored. Their lower-order rebuild, led by Nabi and Rashid, deserves high praise, but Ireland would have gone into the interval knowing they had possibly let a great opportunity slip. Chasing 224 for victory in the second innings, William Porterfield (above) and Paul Stirling shared 31 for the first wicket, before Porterfield fell leg before wicket to Alam, quickly followed by centurion of the last match, Andy Balbirnie for a duck. Stirling went a run later to leave Ireland at 33-3. Simi Singh and Kevin O’Brien steadied the ship with a 33-run stand, but when Singh was bowled by Rashid Khan it prompted another mini-collapse. George Dockrell – another who showed fine form during the previous match – and Stuart Poynter didn’t last long, bowled by Gulbadin Naib and Aftab respectively. By the 30th over Ireland were 90-6 – a similar position Afghanistan had found themselves in a few hours before.