Green Afganistan One Day Cup

 

The Pamir Legends won their first game of the tournament this morning as they out Maiwand to the sword courtesy of the first century of the tournament from Ihsanullah. 

It was a high scoring game with Maiwand posting the highest total of 2022; 306-6. It was no cake walk for Pamir but opener Ihsanullah shepherded them through until the last ten overs where 85 were needed. It got sticky at times but just 7 was needed from the final over and with a six and a single Pamir opened their account. 

Hindukush beat Pamir in the midweek game and top the table.

Ihsanullah's big score puts him 11 runs clear as highest run scorer whilst Hindukush's Zia-ur-Rehman's 8 wickets sees him lead that particular tally. 

Green Afganistan One Day Cup

Hindukush’s debut in this tournament was a strong one.

 

They were put in to bat and put on a decent score of 232 despite the regular fall of wickets. Afghan journeyman Mujeeb Ur Rahman was Maiwand’s biggest hitter with decent figures of 3-27.

Mujeeb was let down by their batters, however, as they were rocked out for a mere 129 after never being able to rally back from 11-4. Not even the rain could help them as their chase was shortened to 40 overs and the total down to 209. They ended up being downed after 32 overs needing 80 runs.   

Zimbabwe A Tour of Nepal

After two very one-sided and brief One Day games, it was pleasing to see this one go the distance.

 

Zimbabwe went out positively and put on 213 runs in their 50. The main reason why this was so limited was due to the regular intervention of debutant Kishore Mahato who got five for 43.

 

Nepal looked more confident from the get go and built substantial partnerships throughout. And needed a mere 30 0vers to do the job.

 

The rise of Nepal is on.    

Tadiwanashe Murumani ended as the highest run scorer- but with 105 runs it suggests the series was not a runfest. Nepal's Basir Ahamad was one of two players to get 3 wickets but leaked just 40 runs in the process. 

Green Afganistan One Day Cup

 Today marks the start of a new 50 Over domestic tournament. Three teams will face off against each other over the next fortnight. 

The inaugural saw Maiwand beat Pamir courtesy of one of Afghanistan's rising talents. Darwish Rasooli top scored with 84 runs in Maiwand's total of 254-9. Pamir fought them hard and with 5 overs left it looked like they might have it in them, but lost 4 wickets in quick succession to finish 10 runs short. 

Maiwand and Hindukush play the second fixture on Tuesday. 

Zimbabwe A Tour of Nepal

 After Nepal's poor showing yesterday, you would have had long odds on an even more convincing win for then today....but that is what we ended up with. 

Zimbabwe A were all out for a miniscule 86 in 31.5 overs. The Nepalese bowlers shared the wickets amongst them but Karan KC managed to bag 3 wickets alongside 3 maidens to catch the eye the most. 

Nepal continued to rub salt into the wound by knocking off the chase within 11 overs. 

It would be a brave person who predicted the outcome of this series. 

Zimbabwe A Tour of Nepal

The T20 leg of the Zimbabwe A series was rather ruined by weather. After Zimbabwe won the first game, rain washed out the second game after 4 overs before Nepal levelled the series very comfortably in the last match. So it is very hard to see who is in the ascendancy as we moved into the 50 Over games……. until the game actually started.

It seems that Nepal were still in T20 mode as they were all out for 136 and still had 20 overs left in the bank. Brad Evans really must be pushing for full international honours soon. The ex-Cardiff MCCU player was top of the wicket takers in the Zimbabwe Regional Men's Twenty20 tournament and has been pulling up roots in the domestic competition all year. Today he got wickets in all of his spells and finished with figures of 8.3-0-27-4. Zimbabwe won at a canter, needing a mere 26 overs to turn the tide.

 

The next game is tomorrow with he final game on Monday.

Zimbabwe A Tour of Nepal

 Whilst one set of Zimbabweans are facing South Africa A, another group are in Nepal for 3 T20s and 3 One Day games. 

The 'Zimbabwe XI' facing South Africa A are pretty much just the Zimbabwe first team with 480 white ball appearances across the team. This tram is clearly their second string with 83 apperances between them - 40 of which comes from just one player. 

It was a relative veteran of 3 ODIs and 11 T20Is who shone in the first match as Tadiwanashe Murumani top scored with 56 in Zimbabwe A's second innings score of 182-4. They chased down the total asked of them with 7 balls to spare. 

The second game is tomorrow with the concluding fixture on Wednesday.