WELLINGTON: Afgh­anistan pulled off a stunning five-wicket win over Pakistan while hosts New Zealand started with a comprehensive eight-wicket win over defending champions West Indies on the opening day of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup on Saturday.

Afghanistan captain Naveen-ul-Haq struck with the new ball to reduce Pakistan to 23 for two after the two-time champions elected to bat in the Group D match at the Cobham Oval in Whangarei.

An 88-run third-wicket partnership between opener Rohail Nazir (81 off 105 balls) and Ali Zaryab (30 off 58) steadied the ship but the 2004 and 2006 champions could not consolidate and were all out for 188 in 47.4 overs.

Paceman Azmatullah Omarzai and spinner Qais Ahmad grabbed three wickets each.

Afghanistan reached the target with 15 deliveries to spare, thanks to Darwish Rasooli’s unbeaten 76 off 78 balls.

Finn Allen was the star for New Zealand with an unbeaten 115 in Tauranga as the home side surpassed West Indies’ total of 233-8 with more than 10 overs to spare.

On a day which saw four matches being played across three cities, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe also notched wins, though their matches in Christchurch were reduced to 20 overs per side owing to rain. Bangladesh defeated Namibia by 87 runs and Zimbabwe beat Papua New Guinea by 10 wickets.

Brief scores of other matches:

At Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln: Bangladesh beat Namibia by 87 runs (20 overs per side).

BANGLADESH 190-4 in 20 overs (Mohammad Saif Hassan 84, Naim Sheikh 60); NAMIBIA 103-6 in 20 overs (Eben van Wyk 55 not out; Hasan Mahmud 2-12, Qazi Onik 2-14).

At Bay Oval, Tauranga: New Zealand beat West Indies by eight wickets.

WEST INDIES 233-8 in 50 overs (Keagan Simmons 92 not out, Kimani Melius 78; Rachin Ravindra 3-30, Matthew Fisher 3-61, Felix Murray 2-37); NEW ZEALAND 234-2 in 39.3 overs (Finn Allen 115 not out, Jakob Bhula 83).

At Lincoln No 3, Christchurch (20 overs per side). Zimbabwe beat Papua New Guinea by 10 wickets. PAPUA NEW GUINEA 95 in 20 overs (Igo Mahuru 26; Wesseley Madevere 3-19, Milton Shumba 2-19); ZIMBABWE 98-0 in 14 overs (Wesseley Madevere 53 not out, Gregory Dollar 48 not out)

Sunday’s fixtures: Australia vs India (Bay Oval, Tauranga, D/N); Ireland vs Sri Lanka (Cobham Oval, Whangarei); Kenya vs South Africa (Lincoln No. 3, Christchurch).

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Zaid Alam c Ibrahim b Naveen 0

Rohail Nazir c Zahir b Qais 81

Ammad Alam c Ikram b Naveen 1

Ali Zaryab c Rahmanullah b Nisar 30

Mohammad Taha b Qais 17

Saad Khan c Ikram b Azmatullah 6

Hassaan Khan c Ibrahim b Zahir 13

Mohammad Musa c Ikram b Azmatullah 0

Shaheen Shah Afridi c Nisar b Qais 1

Suleman Shafqat not out 5

Arshad Iqbal c Nisar b Azmatullah 10

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-2, W-18) 24

TOTAL (all out, 47.4 overs) 188

FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-23, 3-111, 4-146, 5-150, 6-162, 7-165, 8-165, 9-171.

BOWLING: Naveen-ul-Haq 9-0-30-2 (3w); Mujeeb 10-1-33-0 (3w); Azmatullah Omarzai 7.4-1-34-3; Qais Ahmed 10-0-38-3 (2w); Zahir Khan 9-1-39-1 (2w); Nisar Wahdat 2-0-8-1.

AFGHANISTAN:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz lbw b Hassaan 31

Ibrahim Zadran run out 3

Ikram Ali Khil b Taha 46

Bahir Shah c Rohail b Shaheen 1

Darwish Rasooli not out 76

Nisar Wahdat c Rohail b Hassaan 19

Azmatullah Omarzai not out 12

EXTRAS (B-1, W-5) 6

TOTAL (for five wkts, 47.3 overs) 194

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-42, 3-50, 4-125, 5-167.

DID NOT BAT: Naveen-ul-Haq, Qais Ahmed, Mujeeb, Zahir Khan.

BOWLING: Arshad Iqbal 10-2-26-0 (1w); Mohammad Khan 10-0-44-0 (3w); Shaheen Shah Afridi 10-0-27-1 (1w); Hassaan Khan 10-0-45-2; Suleman Shafqat 2-0-19-0; Mohammad Taha 4.3-0-23-1; Ammad Alam 1-0-9-0.

RESULT: Afghanistan won by five wickets.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2018