Afghans Make History, Winning Thriller Against Scotland In Cricket's World Cup

Afghans celebrated on the streets of Kabul as their national cricket team, playing half a world away, won its first World Cup game.   --  Scotland, in its allotted 50 overs, scored 210 runs. In a nail-biting finish, the Afghans scraped past Scotland in Dunedin, New Zealand, by one wicket with three balls to spare.

No. 4 Samiullah Shenwari top scored with 96 and opener Javed Ahmadi scored 51, but it was an unbeaten last-wicket stand between Hamid Hassan, not out on 15, and Shapoor Zadran, batting on 12, that took the Afghans past their more fancied opponents.

The Associated Press adds: "While the Afghan players rushed to hug and celebrate with teammates and fans after last-in-line batsman Shapoor Zadran stroked the winning runs ... dejected Scotland players slowly left the field Thursday after being deprived of their first win in the marquee event."

Scotland, as that preceding sentence points out, isn't exactly a cricketing powerhouse, either. But it has a closer association with the game than Afghanistan, where returning refugees, who had picked up cricket in neighboring Pakistan, popularized it.

Fourteen teams are playing in the World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The strongest sides are the traditional cricket-playing sides: the two hosts, England, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Pakistan, India, the West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe; then there are the associate teams (second-tier squads) — Afghanistan, Scotland, Ireland, United Arab Emirates.

Cricinfo has a match report and video highlights of today's game in Dunedin.  More at NPR
Afghans Make History, Winning Thriller Against Scotland In Cricket's World Cup