Thursday, February 26, 2015

CWC 15 Match #17: Afghanistan v Scotland

What a game yesterday. Afghanistan had Scotland 8 down at 142, but the Scots tail wagged and stretched it to 210. Still, it seemed Afghanistan's day. Watched them until 85 for 2, seemed like smooth sailing so took a break. Come back 30 minutes later it is 95 for 7!!!!! How did that happen? Thought it is all over and switched off in the living room, but something did not feel right so switched on the bedroom TV and watched again, and stayed watching until the end!! What an end! Oh Shenwari!! Oh Hamid Hassan! Just kept plugging away. 76 from 85, 72 from 72, chipping away, Shenwari turning down easy singles to stay on strike and shield Hassan until with 40 more to get from 30, Hassan started to ask for singles. What fantastic fielding by the Scots!! Best I have seen thus far in the tournament. Berrington, Evans, McLeod, Coetzer!! Every hard hit was stopped, 4s converted to singles, singles converted to zeros. Then THAT over. Shenwari takes 19 off Majid Haq and its 19 from 19. But oh no!! Shenwari hits one right into the hands of Berrington in cow corner, and it is just one wicket remaining. Shapoor!! The Zadran! So cool, while Hassan was visibly nervous. 19 from 18, 18 from 16, 13 from 11, 10 from 8, the Afghans hanging on by a thread. Last over, 5 from 6, 4 from 4. And finally the Scots blinked. One bad ball, played off the hips by Shapoor for a 4 and its over. What a match!

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