Afghanistan stun Zimbabwe

Sport
Zimbabwe 261/8 (Hamilton Masakadza 84, Brendan Taylor 53, Aftab Alam 44/2) Afghanistan 266/8 (Javed Amhadi 56, Sean Williams 2/33) lose by two wickets with two balls remaining.

Zimbabwe 261/8 (Hamilton Masakadza 84, Brendan Taylor 53, Aftab Alam 44/2) Afghanistan 266/8 (Javed Amhadi 56, Sean Williams 2/33) lose by two wickets with two balls remaining. Vitalis Moyo SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Afghanistan recorded their first ever one day international (ODI) win over Zimbabwe as they managed to scrap a two-wicket victory with two balls at Queens Sports club in Bulawayo yesterday.

The win by the touring side has revived interest in the series after Zimbabwe seemed to be headed for a whitewash following two opening victories in the four-match series.

It was the Asian team that won the toss and opted to field before limiting the home side to 261 runs after 50 overs.

Zimbabwe had a slow start to their innings, going at as low as two runs per over in their first five overs.

Their first boundary came from Sikandar Raza in the fourth over before Hamilton Masakadza got the home side’s first six in the following over.

Zimbabwe did not play as freely with the bat as they did in the second ODI with a few loose balls that were begging to be put away being wasted.

In the seventh over, Afghanistan claimed Raza’s wicket with 11 runs to his name from Darwat Zadran’s delivery with Nasir Jamal taking an easy catch leaving Zimbabwe at 36/1.

Zimbabwe’s top order continued to struggle with the bat with their first 50 runs coming after 12 overs.

Masakadza’s 84 run rally was broken in the 30th over after he was caught by Jamal leaving Zimbabwe at a precarious position at 145/2.

After Masakadza’s dismissal wickets began to tumble for the home side with skipper Brendan Taylor being run out by Zadran soon after celebrating his half century while Malcom Waller was next to be sent back to the dressing room after he was caught behind by the wicket keeper Shafiqullah off Zadran’s delivery.

Williams was dismissed one run short of getting a half century and Zimbabwe were at 225/5.

Timsen Marume was next to go with 13 runs while Natsai Mushangwe was bowled out by Aftab Alam for a duck. Elton Chigumbura added 20 runs before he was dismissed as Zimbabwe managed to get 261 runs after 50 overs for the Afghanis to chase.

In reply, the touring side’s opening batsmen started the chase down brightly utilising the first batting power play with their first 50 runs coming after seven overs before the hard hitting 17- year-old Usman Ghani was caught by Mshangwe with 43 runs.

Immediately after Ghani’s dismissal Noor Ali was sent back to the dressing room for a duck by Mshangwe in the next over leaving Afghanistan at 83/2.

However, the Afghanistan batsman continued to chase down the total despite losing most of their middle order to set up a nail biting finish to the match. With four balls left in the innings and Afghanistan needing four runs to win, Zimbabwe wasted a clear chance to run out Shapoor Zadran, but poor communication saw the chance go begging.

The nineth wicket partnership of Darwat and Shapoor Zadran held their nerve having gone into the last over needing seven runs from six balls. Darwat went to the boundary to win the match for the tourists with two balls and two wickets to spare.