Scotland’s brave cricketers came within one wicket of picking up their first ever win at the ICC CricketvWorld Cup. As it was, their disappointment meant jubilation for Afghanistan who edged the Pool A clash between them in Dunedin in the most dramatic fashion.

The Afghans had been set to score 211 and reached the final over of the contest still requiring 5 with the last pair together. Last man Shapoor Zadran took the plaudits by clipping Iain Wardlaw to fine leg for the winning boundary with 3 balls remaining.

Samiullah Shenwari had taken Afghanistan to the brink, scoring 96, an innings that included 7 fours and 9 sixes, three of them during one over from Majid Haq.

Scotland had made 210, being bowled out on the final ball of the innings but none of their batsmen was able to go on after getting a start, with 31 – jointly-made by Matt Machan and Haq – being the top score.

Afghanistan’s three seam bowlers did the damage, taking 8 wickets between them, three at the start of the game as Calum MacLeod, Hamish Gardiner and Kyle Coetzer perished with only 40 on the board.

Durham’s MacLeod made his second duck of the tournament and has only made 4 runs from 3 innings so far, having hit Zadran to point.

Zadrani claimed 4-38, Dawlat Zadran took 3-29 and Hamid Hassan, the quickest of the trio, finished with 1-32.

Matt Cross, who has played regularly for Nottinghamshire’s seconds over the last couple of years, made 15 before being caught behind. The final total looked under par but having been 144-8 it was a good effort from Haq and Alasdair Evans, who made 28, to put on 62, a Scottish for the ninth wicket.

Javed Ahmadi made a run-a-ball 51 at the top of the Afghan’s reply but it was the power hitting of Shenwari that kept the chase alive.

A Scotland win looked inevitable as the score slipped from 85-2 to 97-7. In all, seven players made single figure scores but Shenwari remained at the crease until being ninth out, caught in the deep looking for a six that would bring up his first ODI ton.

That left Shapoor and Hassan still requiring 19 from as many balls. Hassan had provided heroic support for Shenwari and batted for 75 minutes in making 15 not out but it was his partner who picked off a low full toss for the winning runs.

Defeat was particular hard on Richie Berrington, who had been the pick of the Scottish bowlers and had done the damage in the middle overs taking 4-40 from his 10-over spell.

Following Ireland’s incredible win over the UAE 24 hours earlier, the second all-Associate match of the World Cup had again been a real-biter and provided further ammunition for those wanting their inclusion at future tournaments.

Scotland’s failure to convert their first win in the tournament leaves them with a 0-3 record and they next play Bangladesh in Nelson next Thursday.

Afghanistan (1-2) face Australia in their next match, in Perth next Wednesday.

 

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