India break Aussie cricket tour duck with Afghanistan win

Published: 
Agence France-Presse
Listen to this article

Scotland scores impressive 179-run victory over Ireland

Agence France-Presse |
Published: 
Comment

Latest Articles

Hong Kong English teachers to undergo IELTS instead of local assessment

DSE 2024: To ace English Paper 1, pay attention to details and use ChatGPT to study

Australia’s ‘earless dragon’ faces extinction due to climate change

WHO Europe report says 16% of all adolescents were cyberbullied in 2022

Hong Kong’s MTR Corp to hike ticket prices by 3% this year

Conflict through a writer’s eyes: 5 books set during war

India's Rohit Sharma plays a shot from the bowling of Afghanistan's Aftab Alam during the one-day international warm up cricket match between India and Afghanistan in Adelaide on February 10, 2015.

India finally celebrated a first win on their  marathon Australia tour on Tuesday with a resounding 153-run victory over outclassed Afghanistan in a World Cup warm-up.

The defending World Cup champions piled up 364-5 in their 50 overs at the Adelaide Oval with record-breaking batsman Rohit Sharma making 150 with 12  fours and seven sixes.

He was well-supported by Ajinkya Rahane’s 88 not out with Suresh Raina  hitting a stylish 75.

Afghanistan, who will be playing in their first World Cup when the  tournament starts on Saturday, batted their full 50 overs but managed just  211-8.

 

Nawroz Mangol was the only batsman to make an impression with 56.

There had been some early encouraging signs for the Asian minnows when they had India struggling on 16-2 after Hamid Hassan and Dawlat Zadran got rid of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli. 

But once Sharma and Raina had put on 158 for the third wicket, there was no way back for Afghanistan who opted for batting practice rather than chase down  the total.

"I'm not a big fan of practice games, but a bit more time in the middle  does help. Overall it has been quite good," said India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

 

Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi admitted his bowlers couldn't build on  the solid foundation given them by the opening pair.

"The bowlers couldn’t put ball in the right place, but India are a champion  team and their batting is quite long," said Nabi.

"We started well when we batted but then the ball began to skid and we  struggled. We played out the 50 overs, that was a plus point."

Victory for Scotland

At Sydney’s Olympic Park, meanwhile, Scotland clinched an impressive  179-run win over Ireland, the strongest of the Associate nations who stunned  England and Bangladesh at the 2011 World Cup.

Matt Machan made 103 for the Scots with skipper Preston Mommsen (56) and  Richie Berrington (52) also in the runs.

In reply, Ireland skipper William Porterfield (23) and Paul Stirling (37)  put on 57 for the first wicket inside 12 overs.

But medium pace bowler Alasdair Evans then dismissed both openers as well  as Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien to finish with 4-17 off five overs.

Ireland lost nine wickets for just 60 runs with only Gary Wilson (15)  managing to join Porterfield and Stirling in double figures.

The Irish side were all out by the 27th over.

"We have worked hard on our fielding although I feel we could have been  busier in the middle overs with the bat," said Machan, who once opened the  batting for the England Under-18 team.

“We take inspiration from what Afghanistan and Ireland have done. For us  the journey starts now. I hope this group can hang around for the next five  years."

Porterfield rued his team’s boor batting.

"That wasn't a 27-over wicket. We were sloppy in the field - there's no  excuse for where we ended up," he said.
 

 

Sign up for the YP Teachers Newsletter
Get updates for teachers sent directly to your inbox
By registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy
Comment