ICC World Cup: Afghanistan defeat Scotland by 1 wicket in last over thriller

DunedinChasing 211 for a win at the University Oval Afghanistan were in dire straits at 97 for seven before Shenwari played the innings of his life to help the Mohammad Nabiled side post their first World Cup victory in their maiden appearance with three balls to spareShenwari stitched crucial partnerships with tailenders and the team got muchneeded help from No10 Hamid Hassan 15 not out and lastman Shapoor Zadran 12 not out who stood unbeaten for the final 19 runs of the win Opener Javed Ahmadi also made a useful contribution up the order for the Afghans with a runaball 51 a knock which was decorated with eight boundariesShenwari during his innings Pic AFPBut the star of the day was Shenwari He first joined hands with Dawlat Zadran 9 and then Hassan to raise the hopes of an Afghan win before Hassan and Shapoor finished off the chase with three balls to spare Shenwari played 147 balls and struck seven boundaries and five huge hits over the fence during his careerbest knock Earlier Majid Haq 31 and Alasdair Evans 28 shared valuable 62 runs for the ninth wicket to lift Scotland to 210 their highest cricket World Cup score in three appearancesIn pursuit of the target Shenwari added 35 runs with Dawlat 9 to first stabilise the chase and then shared vital 60 runs off 71 balls with Hassan to take his side near the finishing line before perishing in the 47th over Shenwari though made the match after he clobbered offspinner Haq for three huge sixes on the leg side to bring the equation down but he fell in fifth ball of the same over He was caught by Josh Davey at deep midwicket boundary while going for another big hitShenwaris dismissal brought Afghanistans last pair at the crease and from there on a win looked improbable for the Asian minnows But Hassan and Shapoor had other plans as they batted sensibly and picked up singles and twos without taking any risks to take Afghanistan homeOne bad ball from Richie Berrington 440 Scotlands start bowler of the day made all the difference Berrington bowled a wide in the last ball off 49th over and from the resultant extra delivery Shapoor found the fine leg boundary with a cheeky shot to bring down the equation to five runs off the last over Shapoor then finished off the chase in style hitting Iain Wardlaw to the fine leg fence to sent the Afghan dug out into a frenzy Besides Berrington Davey 234 and Evans 230 picked up two wickets apiece for ScotlandEarlier asked to bat first on a seamfriendly conditions Scotland lost wickets at regular intervals to be reduced to 144 for eight at one stage before Haq and Evans batted sensible to register Scotlands highest ninth wicket partnership and also Scotland register their highest score in the World CupFor Afghanistan opening bowling pair of Shapoor 438 and Dawlat 329 used the bowlerfriendly conditions to perfection to share seven wickets between them University Oval Afghanistan bowlers got going from the start and snared wickets at regular breaks to never really let Scotland settleThe Scots were themselves to blame as they failed to convert starts into something more substantial Four of top six fell between 23 and 31 but the resistance from the lower order lifted them over 200 The 200run mark at least gave the Scottish seam attack belief to defend the total especially as Afghanistan were bundled out for 63 chasing a similar score when the two sides met last timeKyle Coetzer 25 Matt Machan 31 skipper Preston Mommsen 23 Richie Berrington 25 and wicketkeeper Matthew Cross 15 all got starts before giving away their wickets In a spot of bother at 144 it took a sensible and gritty effort from Haq and Evans to rescue Scotland from dire straitsHaq and Evans took the fight to the opposition bowlers and played cautiously to help Scotland bat out the entire 50 overs and in the process notch up their highest World Cup score bettering 186 runs scored against South Africa in 2007 edition of the tournament The ninthwicket partnership between lasted almost 13 overs before its innings ended off the last ball of the final over