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Afghanistan stun South Africa in U19 World Cup opener

───   MORGAN PIEK 16:37 Fri, 17 Jan 2020

Afghanistan stun South Africa in U19 World Cup opener | News Article
Shafiquallah Ghafari - ICC

Afghanistan caused a stir on Friday when they got their 2020 ICC U19 Cricket World Cup campaign off to a perfect start with a resounding seven-wicket victory over South Africa at the Diamond Oval in Kimberley.


Being the hosts and having recently played games in the Diamond City, the Junior Proteas, would have been considered as the favourites to win the opening match of the tournament, however, as a team, they looked jittery through the contest.

South Africa won the toss and elected to have a bat first, and this proved to be the wrong decision as they were bowled out for a meager 129 runs.

Only the captain Bryce Parsons with 40, the Free State’s Gerard Coetzee with 38, and Luke Beaufort with 25 provided any resistance with the bat.

The star of the show was, however, the Afghan spinner, Shafiquallah Ghafari, who destroy the South African batting line-up with his six for 15 in 9.1 overs.

The South African bowling attack, which they consider to be their strength hardly challenge the Afghan batters on the flat deck in Kimberley, and it was only the left-arm seamer, Tiaan van Vuuren, and the part-time spinner, Jonathan Bird, who caused the visitors any real headaches with the ball.

Imran Mit top-scored for Afghanistan with a fine knock of 57, while the Test batsman, Ibrahim Zadran, contributed with 52.

Achille Cloete was the pick of the bowlers for South Africa with 2/20, while Van Vuuren returned figures of 1/14. Van Vuuren was however by far the hosts' best bowler on the day.

On Saturday, Australia and the West Indies, go head-to-head in Kimberley, while over in Bloemfontein Canada and the UAE will square off at the Mangaung Oval. In Potchefstroom Bangladesh face Zimbabwe, and New Zealand will be up against Japan.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport

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