In what was a nail-biting ending, Afghanistan have scored their first ever Cricket World Cup victory, beating Scotland by one wicket with just three balls to spare.
Afghanistan finished with a winning total of 211 runs, beating Scotland this afternoon in their World Cup Pool A clash in Dunedin.
Reports the ABC, Afghanistan looked on track to win earlier in the day when in the 19th over they were sitting on a score of 2 for 85, but a steep collapse following the wicket of Javed Ahmadi saw Afghanistan reduced to 7 for 97 by the 24th over.
Samiullah Shenwari pulled his weight to guide Afghanistan towards their first World Cup victory, scoring 96 runs before he was caught on the boundary with 19 still required for the win. Tail-enders Hamid Hassan and Shapoor Zadran were left the task of nabbing those 19 runs off a remaining 19 balls.
The winning hit came from Shapoor Zadran who found the boundary and hit a four off the third ball of the final over, securing Afghanistan’s historic win.
It was Scotland’s 11th loss in their total of 11 World Cup games, but their 210 score also marked their highest-ever score in a World Cup match. The game was the second thrilling match between two non-Test sides, following Ireland’s win over the UAE on Wednesday.
