Afghan fairytale continues
Afghanistan, 279 all out, defeated Scotland, 237 all out, by 42 runs in this WCQ09 Super-Eights match at Willowmoore Park, Benoni, on 15 April.
Afghanistan have now defeated all four of the European countries in this World Cup Qualifying tournament in South Africa. Scotland were that country’s latest victims in their fairytale journey from Division 5 to the edge of a World Cup appearance. Nobody could say that the Afghanis didn’t deserve their win, but plenty would say that the Scots once again threw the game away with more underperformance.
For a change, Ryan Watson won the toss for Scotland and did not hesitate to ask Afghanistan to bat after a heavy morning dew.
John Blain and Dewald Nel made the most of the conditions, but Blain, in particular was frustrated by an uncharacteristic dropped catch by Colin Smith, diving full length in front of Watson at slip in the ninth over. Karim Sadiq, the batsman, went on to score 92 in 35 overs before being magnificently run out by a direct throw to the bowler’s end by Jan Stander.
Meanwhile, Blain - and, indeed, the entire Scottish team - was mystified when a confident appeal for caught behind by Smith against Noor Ali was rejected by the umpire. Fortunately, he only lasted four more overs, Stander taking the wicket with his first ball - caught behind!
Wright took longer than usual, namely six overs, to get his first wicket, clean bowled, but Afghanistan were already 105 for two in the 22nd over of the innings.
There was a general lack of discipline in the field, with catching chances missed if not actually dropped, and some pretty loose bowling, both of which gave the Afghanistan batters encouragement, though they never really broke free until the last seven overs, putting on 79 runs while losing their last five wickets.
Taken all in all, it is probable that Afghanistan were allowed to score 25-30 runs more than they were worth. But Wright was again the most economical of the bowlers, taking 2-41, and there were two each also for Nel (2-52), Blain (2-54) and Majid Haq (2-55).
Scotland were due to have opened once again with Gavin Hamilton and Majid Haq, but it was skipper Ryan Watson who appeared with Haq to open the innings - and observers hoped that this bold statement of intent might put an end to the captain’s wretched run of poor form.
Haq set the clock back by chasing an away-swinging bouncer in the third over to give the impressive Zadran his first wicket. New batsman Coetzer scored three boundaries as Watson strove to conquer his demons. But in the end, he simply played on in the 17th over, having made just 13.
The demoted Hamilton arrived next at the crease, and combined well with Coetzer in keeping the singles coming. He was nearly caught three overs in, but opened his boundary tally with a huge six, and the partnership flourished without histrionics as Coetzer reached his half-century with a six, followed immediately by a celebratory four.
At the second drinks interval, the Scots had reached a commendable 145 for two, but were in danger of falling well behind the asking rate. On the resumption, Hamilton lofted another six to bring up his half-century, and the 100 partnerhip, and Coetzer cut loose with three consecutive fours to hike the total to 171 for two in the 37th over - a little over 100 to get with 13 overs remaining.
The acceleration continued in fits and starts, with few dot balls but far too many síngles in the scorebook. Wat son was about to take his second Power Play when Coetzer, on 91, slashed straight to deep gully in the 40th over. McCallum joined Hamilton, helped add a further 13 in seven balls, brought up the 200, then got caught by a splendid diving fielder on the deep square leg boundary. Hamilton followed the very next ball from the other end, also well caught on the long-on boundary, also going for the maximum, having made 71.
And still the Power Play had not been called as Stander also fell at the first fence, the fourth wicket in four overs. Curiously, at the end of the 45th over, the Scots had almost caught up with what the Afghanis had posted at the same stage of their innings, with a difference of only seven runs.
But Colin Smith was run out in the 46th over, going for a quick bye, Craig Wright punched his first ball at catching height straight to point, and Navdeep Poonia, having made 17, played on to become the ninth wicket. Blain was the tenth, clean bowled by the first ball of the 48th over.
In other circumstances, this might have been described as a brave effort by Scotland’s batsmen. But the overall impression given was of having been well and truly outplayed by a disciplined Afghanistan bowling attack, while their field placing was almost perfection in its wisdom and anticipation.
For Scotland, it was another depressing outcome, made only marginally more bearable by the fact that other teams such as Canada, the Netherlands and Namibia had been unexpectedly defeated. The ICC confirmed that only Ireland had so far qualified, and that none of the other Super Eight teams had yet been eliminated from the competition for the other three World Cup places.
For Scotland, though, the nightmare scenario remains: if the team fails to beat the UAE on Friday, it is quite possible that results will conspire to consign the Scots out of the top-six, thus losing One-Day International status for at least the next four years, along with ICC financial support for development.
Scotland is currently bottom of the Super Eights table, with four points and an inferior net run-rate to Afghanistan and Namibia above them on the same number of points. These two teams play each other in the last round on Friday, while the Scots take on the UAE, who have six points but a net run-rate that is already worse than Scotland’s. And if Canada defeat the Netherlands by a sufficient margin, it’s possible that the Dutch, too, would drop below Scotland.
The overall outcome is no longer in Scotland’s hands. But first, we MUST beat the UAE, who today stunned the Canadians with a five-wicket victory. Who will step up to the plate?
Report by Mike Stanger
Pictures by Ian Jacobs
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