Afghanistan shock NZ
Afghanistan have produced the shock of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, knocking out hosts New Zealand.
The Kiwis were completely outplayed by their less-fancied opponents in their quarterfinal at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Thursday, as they slumped to a 202-run loss.
Afghanistan, coached by former Black Caps coach Andy Moles, won the toss and elected to bat first, which looked a great decision when they notched 310-6 off their 50 overs. They had four players contribute between 66 and 69 runs each.
Their openers, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (69) and Ibrahim Zadran
(68), put on 117 in 21 overs for the first wicket to get the innings off to the perfect start.
Bahir Shah (67 not out) kept things ticking along through the middle stages, before Azmatullah Omarzai turned the game on its head when arriving at the crease at the start of the 45th over.
At that point the score was 226-5 and 270-280 looked like a good score, but Azmatullah, who said post-match his cricket idol was India captain Virat Kohli, had other ideas, smashing 66 off 24 balls, including seven sixes, to boost his side’s total.
The extra 30 or so runs he had unexpectedly given his side made New Zealand’s task that much more difficult, especially when their chase started in disastrous fashion with opener and key batsman Rachin Ravindra running himself out for a duck.
Jakob Bhula, who broke the record for highest-ever score at the tournament earlier this month, followed soon after, and before they knew it New Zealand were 20-4 in the seventh over.
Katene Clarke (38) and Dale Phillips (31) helped revive some hopes for the Kiwis with patient knocks, but the latter’s dismissal in the 20th over was followed by a two-ball duck to Sandeep Patel as New Zealand’s faint chance of a miracle win started slipping away.
New Zealand struggled to get on top of Afghanistan’s spinners. Offspinner Mujeeb Zadran (4-14 from 8.1 overs) opened the bowling, mesmerising them early as he bowled Bhula and New Zealand captain Kaylum Boshier.
He then passed the baton to legspinner Qais Ahmad (4-33 from nine overs), who picked up Phillips and Patel in the same over before getting the crucial wicket of Clarke in the 24th over to reduce the hosts to 93-7, effectively ending New Zealand’s charge.
Mujeeb returned to help clean up the tail, producing a wonderful forward cartwheel after dismissing Felix Murray with an unplayable carrom ball, but Qais wasn’t done, picking up his fourth with a stumping to be the leading wicket-taker at the tournament with 12 in four games.
Afghanistan now take on Australia in the semifinals, to be played at the same ground on Monday, after they beat England in their quarterfinal on Tuesday thanks to 8-35 from spin sensation Lloyd Pope.
It was the second time Afghanistan have beaten New Zealand at an Under-19 Cricket World Cup. They won by eight wickets in 2016 in the semifinals, chasing down New Zealand’s total of 135 in 27 overs.