Promoted to the Division Four of the World Cricket League (WCL) along with Jersey, Afghanistan had a dream run through out this tournament. If the Afghans had been a trifle lucky in Division five, then they dispelled all the doubts of their existence in WCL Division four with an almost ruthless performance, and precision of a surgeon.
Jersey and Afghanistan had finished one-two in the fifth division and joined Fiji, Hong Kong, Italy and Tanzania in the fourth division played in the first week of October in 2008. This was to vie for a place in the World Cup 2011 pre-qualifiers.
The format of the tournament was a round-robin one, with the top two teams not only contesting in the final, but also going through to the Division three. Afghanistan opened their campaign with a rather facile win over Fiji, who incidentally went on to finish at the bottom of the pile. The batting woes continued to be the achilles heel for the Afghans, as they capitulated to 132 all out, having failed to bat through their stipulated forty overs. The top-scorer belonged to opener Ahmed Shah who scored 34, but the rest of them barely troubled the scorers. It was, however, an inspired spell of bowling by Hameed Hasan that ensured that there were no heroics when Fiji batted, as none of the batsmen managed to get to the double figures. Fast bowler, Hasan ended with bowling figures of 4/22 and Fiji was all out for 52 in less than 21 overs.
This match was followed by a repeat of the Division five finals against Jersey, and Afghanistan had no trouble in disposing their opponents. Batting first again, Afghanistan rattled off a 203/9 in the fifty overs, clearly showing a much better, and a concentrated effort with the bat. Wicket-keeper Karim Khan scored a fifty, but the other positive aspect of the innings was the fact that almost all the other batsmen got a start. The fact that there were four batsmen who scored between 19 and 27 bears ample testimony to this. In reply, Jersey barely got a move on, and lost wickets on regular interval to fall short by 122 runs. Hameed Hasan picked another couple of scalps, however, the player-of-the-match was Hasti Gul, who got 3/20 in his ten overs. Jersey had very clearly looked out of their depth, lacking the form that had seen them through to the finals of the WCL Division 5.
The third match that the Afghans featured in was in all probabilities the closest they had played. Playing the hosts Tanzania, Afghanistan was blown away for a paltry 143 all out, with Shafiqullah Shafiq top-scoring with a 25. The wickets fell at regular interval, and were equally shared by the Tanzanian bowlers. Off-spinner Kassim Nassoro, was the pick of the bowlers though, with a 3/24 in his ten. With rain interfering with the play, the hosts’ target was reduced to 139 from 46 overs, but at 56/5, they looked dead and buried. The sixth wicket partnership doubled the score, but the next four fell for 14 runs, and Tanzania needed 13 runs in 21 deliveries! Mohammad Nabi made up for his continued failures with the bat and got rid of the last wicket, and the Afghans triumphed by a mere margin of eight runs. Hasti Gul got another three, so did Hameed Hasan, but it was Nabi’s 3/12 that won him the player-of-the-match award.
If that was close, then they were involved in another such encounter on the very next day against Hong Kong. Knowing Afghanistan’s woes with the bat, Hong Kong elected to bat first after winning the toss and piled on 206/9 in fifty overs, their fourth successive total over 200. Nabi may not have had a great time with the willow, but the cherry did exactly what he told it to. Bowling nine overs, Nabi conceded 32 runs, and went on to send five of the Hong Kong batsmen back to the pavilion. And when one thought that he was finished, he came back strongly to score 70 (78 balls) and guide his team to a 105-run partnership for the fourth wicket. By the time he got out, Afghanistan was close enough to the victory, with only 14 runs needed. However, with only 15 deliveries remaining, the tension would have been written large. In the end, the seventh wicket stand of Raees Ahmadzi and Samiullah Shenwari saw their team home with only a couple of deliveries to spare. Nabi was the undisputed Man-of-the-Match.
With the batting confidence back for them, Afghanistan routed the Italians by 93 runs in their last match. A win here for Italy could have seen them in the finals, but a target of 235 under pressure seemed a little too much for them as they capitulated to a 141 all out after never looking like being with a chance to win the encounter. Ahmed Shah’s 54 and another half century by middle-order batsman Raees Ahmadzi had earlier got the Afghans to their highest score of the tournament, and then Hameed Hasan kept up his good work to demolish the Italian middle-order. Incidentally, there were four run-outs in Italy’s innings that spoke volumes about their inability to handle pressure, as much as they did about Afghanistan’s vastly improved fielding performance.
With a 100% record, the Afghans were through to the WCL Division-3, but there was a small matter of playing in the finals against Hong Kong. The batting was a let-down again, as the team folded for a paltry 179, but it was enough to clinch the title. Hong Kong had no reply to the offies of Nabi, whose immaculate line and length caused havoc amongst the HK batsmen. In fact, havoc becomes an understatement when one looks at Nabi’s bowling figures of 9-3-9-4! The 57 run victory for Afghanistan was made sweeter by the announcement that Nabi had been declared the Player-of-the-Series.
Nabi had finished with 14 wickets in the tournament at a staggering, a George Lohmannesque average of less than six runs per wicket! Hameed Hasan was the other half of this brilliant Afghani bowling story, with 16 wickets at less than ten. Raees Ahmadzi was the team’s top run getter, compiling 164 runs at an average of 32.80. Nabi – that man again – came a close second with 154 at the average of around 25.
With this performance, the Afghanis will join five other teams to participate in the WCL Division-3, a tournament that would throw up two more sides for the qualifier to be held later next year. With this kind of performance, Afghanistan would be a definite favourite to book their place in the same.
Copyright: Cover Point
