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Afghanistan Start Campaign in Style

DUBAI — Mohammed Nabi’s all-round performance helped Afghanistan beat Ireland by 13 runs in the ICC World Twenty20 2010 qualifier at Dubai Sports Stadium on Tuesday.

Man-of-the Match Nabi hit 43 off just 25 balls to take Afghanistan to a fighting total of 139/8 after Ireland won the toss and elected to field on a sunny afternoon in Dubai.

The Afghan top order failed to provide a good start as they lost wickets in regular intervals. Noor Ali opened with Karim Sadiq but the first wicket fell at the score of six.

Noor played some wonderful shots but ran out of partners.

Nabi came and played a gem of an innings by hitting Ireland bowlers all over the ground. Ireland began the chase in style by gathering 22 runs in the first three overs but lost the wicket of Niall O’Brien. Shahpoor Zadran was expensive but compensated with breaking the opening partnership of 22 runs by getting the wicket of O’Brien.

William Porterfield was particularly harsh on Afghan bowlers as the burly left-hander plundered most of the runs in the initial overs. He was joined by Paul Stirling who played some lofty shots to accelerate the scoring.

Ireland reached their 50 in the 7^th over.

Fielding was the big difference between the two sides.

Afghanistan had a sigh of relief by seeing the back of Poerterfield who was threatening to take the match away from the under-trained Afghans.

Andre Botha fell cheaply and Ireland were 52/3 in seven overs. Karim Khan grabbed two wickets in his opening over to put the breaks on Ireland’s brisk scoring. Now Kevin O’Brien joined Stirling at the crease and started to rebuild the innings by nudging singles and twos.

Mohammed Shahzad missed a clear chance to stump Kevin off the bowling of Karim but the batsman failed to capitalise on that and he was caught out in the same over at mid-off.

Ireland were 68/4 after 10 overs. Hamid Hassan forced Stirlig to play a false stroke and got him caught at mid-on to the delight of handful Afghan spectators.

Afghanistan missed a double chance in 13^th over when Alexander Cusack was dropped at mid-on but the fielder recovered in time to throw the ball at the bowling end and the bowler failed to collect it cleanly. Now Johnston and Gary were the only hopes for Ireland to take them to the target. But Gary was caught behind off Nabi after scoring only seven runs and leaving Ireland in dire state. Johnston and John Mooney played sensible cricket by placing the ball for singles and twos and at one stage it looked like that they will win the game for the Ireland.

Johnston was dropped by Samiullah off his own bowling in the 18^th over.

Nabi, who top scored for Afghanistan, bowled the tight 19^th over and was rewarded by Johnston’s crucial wicket.

Now Ireland needed 14 runs from the last over with two wickets in hand. Hamid started the final over and there was a run out on the first ball. Hamid ended the Irish innings by cleaning the last batsman up and winning the game for the war-torn country. Ireland could score only 126 runs.

In the second match at Dubai Sports City, Netherlands beat Canada by six wickets. Canada made 142 after winning the toss and electing to bat.

Netherlands started the chase well by putting on 57 runs for the first wicket. The openers Alexei (39) and Edgar Schiferli (25) tore the Canada bowling apart as they reached the 50 mark in five overs. Bastiaan Zuiderent top scored with an unbeaten 43 to take Netherlands to victory. They reached 146 in 19.1 overs and kept their hopes alive for the qualification for T20 World Cup. Earlier, Canada lost openers very cheaply but their middle order showed some maturity and steadied the innings. Ian Billciff top scored with 37 while Geoffrey Barnett (36) and Hiral Patel (25) were the other significant contributors.

liaqat@khaleejtimes.com