Thanks to the excellent bowling of leg spinner Ben White (4 wickets) and fast bowler Josh Little (3 wickets), Ireland defeated Afghanistan by 38 runs in the first T20 International match played in Sharjah on Friday.
Ireland batted first and scored 149 runs losing 6 wickets in 20 overs. In reply, the Afghanistan team was all out for 111 runs in 18.4 overs. Ireland took a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20 International series. The second match between the two teams will be played on Sunday.
White and Little wreaked havoc
Chasing the target of 150 runs, Afghanistan had a very bad start. Mark Adder and Josh Little dismissed Afghan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal respectively. Gurbaz could not open the account. After Atal, Little pushed the host team on the back foot by bowling Azmatullah Omarzai on the very next ball.
Ibrahim Zadran (11) added 39 runs for the fourth wicket with Mohammad Ishaq (32), but Ben White gave Ireland the fourth success by getting Ishaq caught out by McCarthy. From here, White dominated and uprooted the middle order of Afghanistan.
Josh Little and Barry McCarthy took Afghanistan to a Nelson score. Ben White took a maximum of four wickets for Ireland. Josh Little got three wickets. Barry McCarthy had two successes. One wicket came in the account of Mark Eder.
Tector scored a half-century
Coming to bat first, Ireland got a steady start with captain Paul Stirling (25) and Andy Balbirnie (22) making a partnership of 38 runs. Omarzai gave the first blow to Ireland by getting Balbirnie caught by Gurbaz. The score crossed 50 when Charlotte gave the second blow to Ireland by getting Lorcan Tucker (4) caught out by Nabi.
From here, Harry Tector held one end and remained unbeaten after scoring 56 runs in 34 balls with the help of 7 fours and two sixes. Rashid Khan made a strong comeback and took three wickets for 19 runs and prevented Ireland from making a big score.
The Irish team stopped at the score of 149 runs in 20 overs. Rashid Khan took a maximum of three wickets for Afghanistan. Nangeyalia Kharote got two wickets. Azmatullah Omarzai was a success.
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