Cricket: Ireland suffered the first defeat of their World Cup qualifying campaign after they went down to a shock 22-run reverse against Afghanistan in their opening Super Eights game in Krugersdorp, South Africa today.
Chasing 219 for a sixth straight win, Ireland stumbled to 75 for five before a century partnership between Andy White and Kevin O’Brien for the sixth wicket looked to have put them firmly back on course.
Afghan opening bowler Hamid Hassan had other ideas, coming back in his second spell to take four Irish wickets in just nine deliveries to cause the biggest upset in the tournament to date.
Hassan bowled White for 56 in the 45th over to bring to an end a sixth-wicket partnership of 113 and followed it up with three wickets in his next over as O’Brien (52), Regan West (0) and Peter Connell (1) all departed to leave Ireland reeling on 196 for nine.
John Mooney was joined by Boyd Rankin, but the pair only lasted another three balls before Mohammed Nabi bowled Mooney for four to keep alive the Afghans dream of making the 2011 World Cup.
Ireland remain joint top of the Super Eights table on six points alongside Canada, who had a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Kenya.
That result kept the Kenyans on four points, while the Netherlands and the UAE also remain on that mark after losses to Scotland and Namibia respectively.
Ireland play the UAE in their next match on Monday looking to rebound with a victory ahead of tough closing matches against the Netherlands and Kenya.
SCORE
Afghanistan 218-7 (50 ovs) (R Ahmadzai 50no, A Stanikzai 47, M Shehzad 46; A White 2-27, P Connell 2-26; A Cusack 1-30, J Mooney 1-38), Ireland 196 (47.3ovs) (A White 56, K O’Brien 52, N O’Brien 29; H Hassan 5-23). Afghanistan won by 22 runs.
