Ashraf and Naib star in Balkan Legends victory
Brief scores
sharjah — There’s no substitute for experience and Mirwais Ashraf brought that to the fore in the Gulbahar Afghanistan Premier League (APL) on Thursday night.
The 30-year-old, with close to a decade of experience under his belt and a veteran of 46 ODIs and 25 T20Is for Afghanistan, used his crafty medium pace to good effect as the Balkh Legends won a low-scoring affair against the Nangarhar Leopards by 25 runs at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Ashraf snaffled four wickets, while fellow medium pacer Gulbadin Naib took two as the Legends won with five balls to spare.
The Leopards had the measure of the 144-run chase but slipped up thanks to some tight bowling and even slick fielding by the Legends. The Leopards lost seven wickets for the addition of just 25 runs.
Earlier, the Balkh Legends spluttered to 143 for seven in their 20 overs after being asked to take first dig by captain Ben Cutting. Leopards’ team management said that Cutting will continue as captain after West Indian Andre Russell was Balkh Legends: 143 for 7 in 20 overs (Ryan ten Doeschate 35, Colin Munro 33, Mohammad Nabi 20, Chris Gayle 20, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-19, Mitchell Clenaghan 2-36) beat Nangarhar Leopards: 118 all out in 19.1 overs (Anton Devcich 48, Hashmatullah Shahidi 23, Mirwais Ashraf 4-19, Gulbadin Naib 2-10) by 25 runs.
ruled out of the League because of a recurring hamstring injury.
He will be replaced by Australian medium pacer Nathan Rimmington, who plays for the Western Warriors in Australian domestic cricket. He has also played for Kings XI Punjab, Melbourne Renegades, Perth Scorchers and Queensland.
Meanwhile, the Legends reached that total because of Ryan ten Doeschate with the Dutchman making 35 from 27 deliveries with three boundaries and a six. Colin Munro too played his hand with 33 from 27 balls with five boundaries and a six. Captain Mohammad Nabi, who had made 40 against the Paktia Panthers on Wednesday night, made an 18-ball 20 with a boundary and a six.