From ‘nothing’ to a Cricket World Cup win: Samiullah Shenwari and Afghans target Australia next

Down to their last wicket, Afghanistan pulled out a victory against Scotland at the 2015 Cricket World Cup on Thursday, the culmination of a decade of development of the sport in the country.

Afghanistan’s Shapoor Zadran, right, embraces teammate Samiullah Shenwari as they celebrate the team's 2015 Cricket World Cup win over Scotland on Thursday. Dianne Manson / AP / February 26, 2015

Afghanistan’s Samiullah Shenwari said Thursday that defeating Scotland for his side’s maiden Cricket World Cup win was only an appetiser and the minnows were relishing the prospect of toppling Australia in their next outing.

Man-of-the-match Shenwari’s 96 helped Afghanistan clinch a one-wicket victory over Scotland with three balls remaining at Dunedin’s University Oval to ensure their first World Cup will be a memorable one.

The all-rounder, who learned his cricket in a refugee camp, said the Scotland win would be a huge boost for the game in Afghanistan, where it has been growing in popularity over the past decade.

“There was nothing before. You can look 10 or eight years ago, there was nothing in Afghanistan,” he said.

“But now you can in the streets, schools, everywhere you go, it’s just cricket and cricket.”

While Afghanistan entered the World Cup as minnows, they have not been overawed by more fancied opponents and have brought an exuberant brand of cricket to the tournament.

They looked a realistic prospect of upsetting Sri Lanka last weekend when they reduced the former world champions to 51 for 4 before a Mahela Jayawardene century restored the status quo.

Shenwari said Afghanistan were hungry for more wins in their remaining matches at the tournament, where they are yet to face Australia and New Zealand, the two co-hosts, as well as England, in pool play.

He added Afghanistan were looking forward to meeting four-time champions Australia in Perth next week.

“Hopefully we’ll give them a tough time and we will not give up easy,” he said.

“So we’re looking forward to giving them a tough time and looking forward to winning the match.”

Shenwari also insisted with his near-century he’d simply “done my job” in the down-to-the-wire victory.

Afghanistan collapsed to 97 for 7 in pursuit of a modest target of 211 and were all but out of this Pool A clash.

But for the second time in as many days, following Ireland’s nailbiting win over the UAE on Wednesday, two non-Test nations produced a dramatic climax to a World Cup match.

Shenwari turned this contest on its head with a 147-ball innings featuring seven fours and five sixes.

But when he holed out off spinner Majid Haq, trying to go for another six, Afghanistan still needed 19 more runs off as many balls with just one wicket standing.

However, the last-wicket duo of Hamid Hassan (15 not out) and Shapoor Zadran (12 not out) held their nerve, with Shapoor looking anything but a No 11 as he struck the winning boundary off Iain Wardlaw three balls into the final over.

“It was difficult because we lost early wickets but I did my job,” said Shenwari.

After he was out, Shenwari could be seen sitting with his head in his hands, seemingly in despair at costing Afghanistan the match.

“It was a very poor shot,” he admitted. “I was trying to get another six but it was a very good win for us.”

Afghanistan captain Mohammmad Nabi thought his side had thrown away their chance with the bat after restricting Scotland to 210 all out in an innings where left-arm paceman Shapoor took an impressive 4 for 38 in his maximum permitted 10 overs.

“The pressure was extreme again but Shenwari batted brilliantly,” said Nabi. “It’s good to put two points on the board. This is our first win in the World Cup and everyone will enjoy this.”

For Scotland, now appearing in their third World Cup, the wait for a win in the tournament goes on after they looked certain to break their duck in Dunedin – the Gaelic name for Edinburgh.

“It’s never easy losing a game but this is a particularly difficult one for us to swallow,” said Scotland captain Preston Mommsen, whose side have now lost all three of their pool matches following defeats by New Zealand and England.

“We had them seven down but couldn’t finish them off. It just wasn’t to be.”

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