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The series, which was earlier postponed following the Covid-19 pandemic, will be part of the ODI World Cup Super League

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Apr-2022Netherlands are set to host Pakistan for three ODIs in August in Rotterdam. The series, which was supposed to be held in June 2020 and was postponed indefinitely following the Covid-19 pandemic, will be part of the ODI World Cup Super League.The series will also be the inaugural bilateral ODI series between the sides, with the three matches set to be played on August 16, 18 and 21 at the VOC Cricket Ground. The two sides have previously met in the World Cup in 1996 and 2003, and the Champions Trophy in 2002 with Pakistan winning the three encounters.

Netherlands vs Pakistan in Rotterdam

• 1st ODI – August 16, 2022

• 2nd ODI – August 18, 2022

• 3rd ODI – August 21, 2022

Zakir Khan, PCB director, said: “We are pleased that with the support of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond (KNCB), we have been able to reschedule the series, which is important to the growth and development of cricket in Netherlands as well as to the two teams’ chances of progressing directly to the 2023 World Cup.”Our men’s national cricket team had an excellent 2021-22 season and I am confident they will build on the momentum to entertain expat Pakistanis and the Dutch spectators with good cricket. This series will also help KNCB attract new and young audiences towards the game.”Netherlands are currently at the bottom of the Super League table in the 13th place with two wins in 10 matches while Pakistan have won six out of 12 matches and are in the ninth place. The top seven sides plus hosts India will qualify directly for the 2023 Men’s World Cup.

Ajmal Shahzad bowled with pace and aggression to check Sussex’s progress after half-centuries from Luke Wells and Ed Joyce

Vithushan Ehantharajah at Hove01-Jun-2013
ScorecardLions beware: Ajmal Shahzad roars in delight•Getty Images

To look at the Sussex scorecard will paint the picture of a top order of starts needlessly squandered but the truth could not be more different. For that, credit must go to Nottinghamshire’s captain, Chris Read, who, on a Hove pitch that offered something for both sides, rotated his attack well enough to curtail the home batsmen as soon as it looked like they may take the game away.His main weapon was Ajmal Shahzad, who started the day responsibly to bring up his first half-century in nearly two years and notch a fourth batting point for Nottinghamshire – something that seemed unlikely when Chris Jordan took his sixth wicket of the innings to send Luke Fletcher on his way.An extrovert with the ball, Shahzad’s batting is prim and proper. Dealing primarily in drives and pushes as he acted as Samit Patel’s deputy on Friday evening, before taking over as the lead act and farming the strike in a responsible manner this morning. The late Graham Roope, who coached Shahzad at Woodhouse Grove School in Bradford, believed him to be as good with the bat as he was with the ball and he would have been buoyed by the application his former pupil displayed.When Steve Magoffin tempted him to hook from in front of his nose, he controlled it brilliantly to get the ball in front of square and away for four to the midwicket boundary to reach 53 in 139 balls. Three runs later he was gone, flashing at wide ball from James Anyon, but he could be forgiven for having a go after playing his part in a rearguard resistance that saw the last four wickets put on 244 runs (more than twice as much as the first six).Luke Wells and Chris Nash got the Sussex reply off to a great start with 57 runs in the remaining 13 overs before lunch, as Harry Gurney, Fletcher and Shahzad were either a touch too full or a smidge too wide. But they wrestled back control well and Shahzad, who was starting build up a good head of steam, found the breakthrough when he got a good length ball to rise up, take Nash’s inside edge and remove the bail adjoining middle and leg stump.Further pressure brought about the demise of Wells, whose innings typified Nottinghamshire’s increasing control in the field, as he chipped Patel back to Fletcher at mid-on having looked at ease with proceedings.Ed Joyce joined Michael Yardy at the crease – the latter looking in fine fettle as he took some runs off his bowl-a-like Patel – and the two left-handers began to push the score along nicely, until a bloody-minded Shahzad spell after tea broke their stand.Thundering in down the slope from the Cromwell Road End, he fired one through the defence of Yardy that upended his off stump before letting out a hellacious roar that would have made a lion back down. Shahzad had a third three overs later when Rory Hamilton-Brown gave an extremely difficult chance low to the left of Alex Hales at first slip, who did incredibly well to get a hand to the ball, let alone hold on.The biggest wicket of the day was arguably Joyce’s, not least because he was accruing in a typically classy manner. When he could only greet Gurney’s first ball of his evening spell with the shoulder of his bat – James Taylor running in from cover to take a dolly of a catch – Nottinghamshire would have fancied themselves to hustle out a couple more before stumps.But some fine counterattacking from Ben Brown and Jordan put 41 more runs on the board in only 35 deliveries to leave things nicely balanced going into the second half of the game.

Scotland’s defeat to Afghanistan means their hopes of progressing now depend on themselves and other results, as they face Zimbabwe in their second match on Thursday

The Preview by Firdose Moonda09-Mar-2016

Match facts

Thursday, March 10, 2016
Start time 1500 local (0930GMT)

Big Picture

The cruelty of the World T20 qualifying phase is that every game is crucial and Scotland’s key moment may already have come and gone. Their defeat to Afghanistan meant their hopes of progressing now depend on themselves and other results. So for them, there has to be a bigger picture. And there is. Scotland have played 19 matches in six global limited-overs tournaments but are yet to win a game.Zimbabwe will be pleased to hear that because they need another victory before facing the group’s strongest team, Afghanistan, in what they hope will be a showdown for a place in the main draw. Zimbabwe have already recorded one win but it was achieved in untidy fashion. Their batsmen squandered starts, their bowlers lost their lines and they were occasionally comical in the field. They did not look like the only Full Member in the group and would want to tighten up on the basics.Scotland have already faced Afghanistan and found that their bowlers struggled to contain aggressive batting but they were able to respond with runs themselves. They got off to a speedy start before the middle order collapsed and fizzled out, and given the nature of Zimbabwe’s attack that concentrates on a squeeze upfront rather than at the end, Scotland may eye an opportunity to record a first victory.

Form guide

(last five completed games most recent first)
Zimbabwe WWWLL
Scotland LWLWL

In the spotlight

Although a team will take a win no matter how messy in a major tournament, Zimbabwe’s disciplines need to improve if they are to sustain hopes of playing in the main draw. The opening match saw three run-outs, three batsmen holing out, two dropped catches and several misfields. They got away with it once but will not want to risk slipping up as the qualifiers continue.Calum MacLeod was identified by Paul Collingwood as someone who has played a lot of high-pressure cricket, presumably at Warwickshire, and would know how to handle tough situations but his recent scores don’t suggest that. MacLeod has not got past 20 in his last 12 T20Is but has a century in the format at domestic level and will know he is due some runs.

Team news

Zimbabwe may want to add a more attacking spinner to their arsenal but with Graeme Cremer out injured, their only other option is Tendai Chisoro, who went wicketless in the warm-ups against West Indies and HPCA XI. If they are after a change in the batting line-up, they could make space for Peter Moor or Chamu Chibhabha but only by leaving someone like Sikandar Raza or Malcolm Waller out.Zimbabwe: (probable) 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Vusi Sibanda, 3 Richmond Mutumbami (wk), 4 Sean Williams, 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Malcolm Waller, 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Donald Tiripano, 9 Wellington Masakadza, 10 Tinashe Panyangara, 11 Tendai ChataraScotland’s pace attack adjusted well to very their pace and slow Afghanistan briefly on Tuesday, and they may also think of bringing in another spinner considering the Nagpur pitch. Allrounder Con de Lange, who bowls left-arm spin, could complement the 19-year-old legspinner Mark Watt.Scotland: (probable) 1 George Munsey, 2 Kyle Coetzer, 3 Calum MacLeod, 4 Matt Machan, 5 Richie Berrington, 6 Preston Mommsen (capt), 7 Matthew Cross (wk), 8 Josh Davey, 9 Safyaan Sharif, 10 Mark Watt, 11 Alasdair Evans

Pitch and conditions

The Nagpur surface proved difficult to score on freely on the first day and it is expected to continue challenging batsmen. Although it did not take much turn, taking pace off the ball was effective for the seamers and batsmen will have to spend time building an innings. The mercury is only headed in one direction – up – with temperatures expected hotter on Thursday compared to Tuesday. Both teams will hope the crowd numbers balloon like that too.

Stats and trivia

• The margins of victory in both Zimbabwe and Scotland’s opening match was 14 runs. Zimbabwe beat Hong Kong but Scotland lost to Afghanistan.
• Zimbabwe lost the first four T20s they played this year but have won the last three. 

The PCB had terminated its cable-distribution deal and suspended the broadcasting deal with PTV Sports, which was expected to earn them US$ 200 million over three years

Umar Farooq23-Nov-2021A sessions court in Lahore has issued a stay order to prevent the PCB from suspending its deal with the state-owned broadcaster PTV.The PCB had signed a three-year broadcast deal in 2020 with PTV, as well as an agreement with I-Media Communications Services, to ensure the PCB’s broadcast content is not redistributed illegally by cable operators. The official signing of the deal had taken place in the presence of Imran Khan, the Pakistan prime minister who is also the PCB’s patron-in-chief.But last week the PCB terminated its cable-distribution deal and suspended the broadcasting deal with PTV Sports, deals from which, on signing them, the PCB said were expected to fetch them US$ 200 million over three years. The PCB also opened a new tender inviting bids for new media rights for home internationals for the upcoming series against West Indies and Australia. That process will have to be put on hold for now until the dispute is sorted.At heart is the nature of the arrangement. The deal allowed PTV to broadcast all Pakistan’s home bilateral commitments as well as all domestic cricket, though the PCB held on to the production rights. The deal with I-Media Communications Services was meant to ensure that the distribution of cricket content would only be done through licensed cable operators, and the value of the content would be protected against potential illegal distribution.The expected earnings from this deal would come from advertising revenue and also, for the first time in Pakistan, distribution revenue from the cable operators – the equivalent of revenues that broadcasters make from subscriptions – through I-Media. That revenue is important in countries such as England, Australia and, increasingly, India but has been non-existent in Pakistan due to the nature of the industry.It is believed to be on the basis of non-compliance on payments from the I-Media contract that the PCB has gone to court. In its plea before judge Talat Mahmood, PTV said that it “had been honouring” the terms of the deal at every stage. PCB, however, had suspended the deal with both parties because of the supposed non-compliance when it came to implementing the Digital Pakistan policy (one part of which is regulating the illegal cable operator business).PTV also claim that PCB had never addressed any grievances to PTV’s managing director, as the contract stipulated – ESPNcricinfo understands that PCB wrote directly to the Information Minister – who oversees the state-owned PTV – when required.The broadcast deal was signed in the face of a shrinking broadcast market, more so after the Covid-19 pandemic. It ended a long-running broadcast relationship with Ten Sports. International rights for PCB’s home series were sold separately to various channels around the world.Pakistan has few local sports broadcasters to choose from though recently, the ARY Group has launched an HD sports channel called A-Sports, which covered the T20 World Cup and is presently broadcasting the Abu Dhabi T10 league. PTV, however, broadcasts its content on standard definition, which the PCB wants to change to HD.Neither PTV or PCB chose to speak on the matter when contacted.

Hetmyer still out on fitness grounds, but chief selector Desmond Haynes says he remains in West Indies’ plans

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jan-2022Captain Kieron Pollard and vice-captain Nicholas Pooran will lead a familiar squad in the T20I series against India in February. West Indies did not make any changes to the 16 that was named to take on England at home for the away series against India. West Indies, at the time of naming the squad on Saturday, were leading that home series against England 2-1, with two games to play.West Indies had announced their squad for the preceding ODIs against India on January 27, and 11 players feature in both the limited-overs squads: Pollard, Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith and Hayden Walsh Jr.Related

• West Bengal government allows 75% attendance for India-West Indies T20Is

• Shahrukh Khan, Sai Kishore part of India's stand-bys for West Indies T20Is

• Roach handed ODI recall as Haynes picks his first WI squad

Allrounder Odean Smith keeps his place after a bizarre incident this past week which included claims of him being “victimised” after he was left out for the third T20I against England to make way for Rovman Powell. The claims were made in a voice note sent to the media – by whom it is as yet unclear, though local media reported it was “a regional cricket commentator” – and duly rubbished by coach Phil Simmons. Cricket West Indies president Ricky Skerritt termed the allegations “a malicious attack on the credibility of the West Indies Captain, designed to sow division within our team”.West Indies’ tour to India is the first assignment for new West Indies chief selector Desmond Haynes. The tour comprises three ODIs in Ahmedabad starting on February 6, followed by the T20Is in Kolkata between February 16 and 20.Hetmyer still out on fitness grounds, Lewis yet to return post-Covid
Shimron Hetmyer was left out of the squad on fitness grounds once again. Earlier this month, West Indies head coach Phil Simmons was critical of Hetmyer’s attitude towards physical fitness, saying it was “heart-wrenching” to see him fail to reach the minimum standard. Haynes, however, stressed that Hetmyer is still part of West Indies’ plans moving forward. The 25-year-old batter is currently part of the Quetta Gladiators squad at the PSL.”What we need to do is we need to put our arm around these guys and let them know that we are interested in their development… to also [make them] understand that there’s a level of fitness that is required to play at international level,” Haynes said. “But Hetmyer is in our plans. There’s no question about it. Hetmyer was ill this month at the beginning of the year and obviously we’ve got a squad of people here who are doing well at present in the T20 tournament. So, we decided we will keep them for the tournament going to India.”As for opening batter Evin Lewis, he is yet to return to competitive action since testing positive for Covid-19, ahead of the Ireland series. While Haynes said that the selectors wanted to give the squad that is playing against England at home another go in India, he pointed out that Lewis, too, will be part of West Indies’ future plans.”This year both Evin and Hetmyer had illness and I think Evin was recovering from Covid,” Haynes said. “I just want to let everybody know that Evin is still in our plans. Evin is not part of the T20 squad that was selected before I took on the role of a lead selector. We’ve done well against the England T20 team and I believe that it was right of us to give these guys a chance.”Left-arm seamer Obed McCoy, meanwhile, is still recovering from the shin injury he sustained at the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE.Haynes impressed by Powell, Hosein
Dwayne Bravo’s international retirement after the T20 World Cup last year stripped the side of an experienced all-round option, but Powell and Hosein have since stepped up, impressing Hayes. Dominic Drakes, who had a breakout CPL 2021 and then got gigs in the IPL and T10 league, is also part of the squad for the T20I leg of the India tour.Replacing Smith, Powell walloped a 51-ball hundred to hand West Indies a 2-1 lead in the ongoing T20I series against England. Left-arm fingerspinner Hosein, who had batted up the order for West Indies Under-19s back in the day, showed his batting chops in the second T20I, when he smashed an unbeaten 16-ball 44 from No.10 to give England a massive scare.”Yeah, I’m very impressed with the guys,” Haynes said. “I liked the innings that Powell played – I think that was fantastic. Here was a guy who struggled to play spin, I was told, and then he came in and the first shot [with which] he got off the mark was a sweep for six. England then were planning to bowl a lot of googlies at him and he just paddle-swept. Also, he’s a strong guy too; when it was time to use his power coming down to the end, he played very well and I was very, very impressed with him.”I was also very impressed with Akeal in that one run-defeat. He came in there and everybody thought it was over. He played exceptionally well and that’s what you want because in T20 cricket you want the guy batting up to No.11 to be able to hit a six.”Squad: Kieron Pollard (capt), Nicholas Pooran (vice-capt), Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Dominic Drakes, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Brandon King, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Kyle Mayers, Hayden Walsh Jr

The India batsman injured his left shoulder while fielding in the ODI series opener against England

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Mar-2021Shreyas Iyer was taken for scans after subluxating – partially dislocating – his left shoulder when fielding in the first ODI against England in Pune.Iyer picked up the injury in the eighth over of England’s chase, when he dived at extra cover to prevent a boundary, and was ruled out of the rest of the match along with Rohit Sharma, who had been hit on the elbow while batting. Sharma’s injury wasn’t deemed serious enough to require scans.Iyer’s injury will leave the Delhi Capitals sweating too, as the IPL will start soon after the ongoing ODI series, on April 9, and Iyer is their captain. It can take weeks – even a surgery in certain cases – to recover from such an injury. The difference between subluxation and a complete dislocation is that in case of a subluxation, the two bones that form a joint are still in contact with each other.There were two other injuries during the Pune ODI, with England batsman Sam Billings hurting his collar bone when diving at the boundary and captain Eoin Morgan splitting a webbing in his right hand when stopping a crisp cover-drive from Hardik Pandya. Both men went on to bat during the chase.

Experienced commissioner will lead appointment process for other members

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Mar-2021The ECB’s board have appointed Cindy Butts as chair of the newly-established Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket, which was unveiled in November as part of the board’s measures to drive out discrimination and increase diversity across the game.Butts, whose other roles include serving on parliamentary committees and membership of Kick It Out’s board of trustees, will work with the ECB board to “finalise the terms of reference” for the commission, and will lead the appointment process for other roles within it.The commission “will independently gather and assess the evidence of inequalities and discrimination of all forms within cricket and identify the actions the ECB will need to take to tackle these issues”, according to an ECB statement.The creation of the commission was announced in late 2020 following claims of institutional racism within the English game by several high-profile figures, including former England international Michael Carberry, the former Yorkshire spinner Azeem Rafiq, and the former Test umpire John Holder. Only this week, the ECB was accused of ignoring the Rooney Rule when appointing a new elite performance pathway coach.Ian Watmore, the ECB’s chairman, said: “The creation of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket is an important step in our ambition to make cricket a game for everyone. Cindy is extremely well-qualified to lead this work and will bring empathy, rigour and practical experience to the deliberations and recommendations of the commission.”Butts said: “I’m excited to be bringing together my lifelong love of cricket with my passion for equity and inclusion, to lead this work for the ECB. Over the coming months we will be looking to hear from a wide range of people who share a love of cricket, whether as spectators, players, coaches or administrators both present and past.”While it’s important we preserve the best of cricket’s traditions, it is also important we identify ways it can evolve and innovate to attract and welcome diverse communities who can make an impact in all areas and at all levels of the game.”I am committed to ensuring that cricket has a bright future in this country.”Brenda Trenowden, the senior independent director of the ECB, will lead the board’s engagement with the commission. “Promoting equity, diversity and inclusion across the game is critical to the success of our game-wide strategy, Inspiring Generations, and our purpose of connecting communities through cricket,” Trenowden said.”Whilst we have taken a number of positive steps forward over recent years, we recognise that there is still a lot of work to do in this area. The commission will play a valuable role in helping us to really listen and understand the reality of the inclusion challenges in the game, so that we can focus our efforts to ensure that more people can say that cricket is a game for me.”

Fabian Allen bursts into top ten among T20I bowlers as West Indies take 3-0 lead against Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jul-2021Pakistan captain Babar Azam has consolidated his position as the No. 1-ranked batter and Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie has made a gain of 14 spots to move to No. 36 after the latest week of ODI fixtures in England and Ireland. Fabian Allen, meanwhile, entered the top ten among T20I bowlers after an impressive run against Australia at home, where West Indies are 3-0 ahead in the five-match series.Azam’s career-best 158 in the final ODI against England at Edgbaston on Tuesday, which earned him eight rating points, kept him 16 clear of Virat Kohli, who is at second place.

Full rankings tables

• Click here for the full team rankings

• Click here for the full player rankings

Following England’s series sweep, there were two major movers low down in the tables. James Vince, who hit 102 – his first century for England across formats – rushed up 85 spots to No. 113 among batters, while Saqib Mahmood, who picked up nine wickets in the three games, gained 89 places to be 63rd among bowlers.Ireland’s historic maiden ODI win over South Africa in their second fixture, after the first game was washed out, also led to some of their players making progress. Balbirnie’s 65 and 102 in the two games gave him a career-high 584 points as he gained 14 places to be ranked No. 36, while William Porterfield (up five spots to 74th) and Harry Tector (up 37 to 90th) among the batters, and Craig Young (up four to 78th) and Josh Little (up 22 to 86th) among bowlers moved up.T20Is: West Indians make big gains
It wasn’t just Allen, who rose 16 positions, but there were a number of West Indians who made big strides up the tables as their team won the third T20I against Australia.Related

• Babar fastest to 14 ODI tons, hammers career-best 158

• Mahmood, Gregory earn T20I call-ups as Morgan returns

Of the bowlers, Obed McCoy, who has five wickets from two matches – including 4 for 26 in the first T20I – has jumped 15 spots to No. 38. while Sheldon Cottrell and Dwayne Bravo, with two wickets apiece so far, have risen by two places to 22nd and seven places to 37th, respectively.Meanwhile, Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Shimron Hetmyer and Lendl Simmons – all among the top five run-getters in the series at the moment – had their own gains too. While Gayle and Russell were tied at No. 103 after rising 22 and 38 ranks, respectively, Hetmyer has raced up to No. 62 by climbing 37 places and Simmons moved to No. 64 after gaining six spots.Tests: Mahmudullah finishes at No. 44
Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by 220 runs in their one-off Test in Harare, and Mahmudullah, who announced midway into the match that it would be his last in the format, gained 19 spots to get to 44th place after his 150* in the first innings. Liton Das, who scored 95 in that innings, rose 15 places to get to No. 55.The bowling star for Bangladesh was Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who finished with a match haul of 9 for 148. He gained six places to get to No. 24.And though Zimbabwe lost the game, captain Brendan Taylor’s 81 and 92 pushed him seven spots up to No. 28, while Blessing Muzarabani’s 4 for 94 in the first innings took him up to No. 45 among bowlers, a gain of six spots.

Shanaka on chat with Dhawan: “We get advice from our former players too, but this was a chance to hear from a current player with a lot of experience”

Andrew Fidel Fernando30-Jul-2021Among the themes of India’s tour of Sri Lanka was the chumminess of the two sides even in difficult bio-bubble situations. Hardik Pandya went viral in Sri Lanka when he was seen singing their national anthem. He had also given fellow seam-bowling allrounder Chamika Karunaratne – who describes Pandya as a role model – one of his bats. At another point in the series, India coach Rahul Dravid was seen having a brief conversation with Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka.And finally, ahead of the third T20I, Shikhar Dhawan was addressing a whole bunch of Sri Lanka players as they huddled in the outfield. After his team had sewn up the series against a depleted India side, Shanaka revealed a little of what he had hoped to get out of the interaction with Dhawan.”Shikhar is a player who has played [for] 10 years, and has a lot of experience,” Shanaka said. “What he has to say about making game plans, and situation handling is something that’s important for all of us to hear – for me as a captain, and the rest of the team.Related

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• Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal and K Gowtham return home after testing negative for Covid-19

• Stats: Hasaranga's birthday bash, and SL break 13-year duck

• Hasaranga leads the way as SL claim 2-1 series win

“He’s someone who’s mastered even his breathing pattern. I thought if we could speak with a player like him, our players would get some sort of knowledge about how to raise our game. We get advice from our former players too, but this was a chance to hear from a current player with a lot of experience. I’m grateful to him for that chance.”But Shanaka mentioned that the conversation with Dravid earlier on in the series was more general.”I talked with Dravid about how the India players approach their innings,” he said. “They are really positive from the moment they get into the ground, and I asked him a lot of the questions we also asked Shikhar.”Sri Lanka were ultimately able to win the T20I series 2-1, thanks in no small part to legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga, who claimed seven wickets and maintained an economy rate of 5.58 across his 12 overs in the series. During the course of the past week, he also became the second-ranked T20I bowler in the world.”He’s a player who has matured really quickly,” Shanaka said of Hasaranga. “I don’t think No. 2 is enough for him, he’s someone who should be at No. 1. I think he’ll get there quickly.”

Izatullah Dawlatzai took career-best figures of 6 for 57 to dismiss Scotland for a paltry 125 in the Intercontinental Cup in Abu Dhabi

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Mar-2013
Scorecard
Izatullah Dawlatzai took career-best figures of 6 for 57 to dismiss Scotland for a paltry 125 in the Intercontinental Cup in Abu Dhabi. After Afghanistan chose to field, Mirwais Ashraf dismissed both the openers in his first five overs and Dawlatzai ran through the Scotland batsmen after that, starting with a double-strike in the 15th over. Ashraf struck again after that when he trapped Calum McLeaod lbw for a duck in the very next over.Dawlatzai took two wickets in his next two overs, with wickets of David Murphy for a duck and Matt Machan for eight, leaving Scotland at 44 for 7. However, No. 8 Robert Taylor struck an unbeaten 54-ball 48 to take them past 100. He forged a 57-run stand for the last wicket with Safyaan Sharif to post 125.Afghanistan got off to a cautious start with a 39-run opening stand but lost Nawroz Mangal in the 18th over. Shabir Noori (33) and Asghar Stanikzai (41) put on 48 for the second wicket but Noori fell to Majid Haq. They lost two quick wickets just after the 100-run mark, including that of Stanikzai, and finished the day 25 ahead of Scotland.