Afghanistan beat Jinnah club by 88 runs in Tour opener  
 
Associated Press of Pakistan
 
PESHAWAR, Sept 16 (APP): The visiting Afghanistan team defeated Jinnah club in their Tour of the provincial capital opener by 88 runs here at Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. The visitors will stay up to September 21 or 23 but it will depend on the confirmation of their visit to Tanzania. Talking to APP, the manager of the team Bashir Ahmad said that the team is on Tour of Peshawar to play four matches against prominent club for acceleration pace in the form of their batsmen, bowlers and fielders.  
 
He said the team will leave for September 21 or 23 to Kabul and then they will leave for Tanzania for playing under the Asian Cricket Council game plan. “We will also play the world cup qualifying as well,” he added.  
 
Team coach Kabir Khan said that he is trying his best to keep Afghanistan team up to the mark to international standard in any form of cricket.  
 
Earlier, Jinnah club won the toss and invited Afghanistan to bat first. Afghanistan while batting first made 211 runs for the loss of nine wickets after playing 40 overs. The top order tumbled badly and only middle order Noor Ali made 65 runs off 53 balls with 12 boundaries and Muhammad Asghar (34) with 53 balls including three boundaries.  
 
Raees Ahmedzai (27), Muhammad Nabi (24) not out, Ahmad Shah (17) were the other leading runs takers. For Jinnah club Walayat Mohammad, Gulbadeen Naib, Usman Zaib, Saleem Khan and Waqar Khan got one wicket each.  
 
In reply, Jinnah club bundled out for 123 runs after playing 26.5 overs. Only Shahab (19), Usman (15), Rehman Gul (21), Yasir Hameed (26) were the leading runs takers, none of the batsmen could stand for a big score.  
 
For Afghanistan right-arm medium fast bowler Hati Gul grabbed three wickets for 20 runs in his 6.4 overs, right-arm medium fast bowler Hameed Hassan took three wickets for 19 runs in his five overs spell, Daulat Khan, Shahpur, Nusrat and Muhammad Nabi took one wicket each. Thus Afghanistan won the match by 88 runs.  
 
Iqbal Butt and Hamkeem Shah supervised the match while Nadeem Akhtar acted as scorer.

Afghanistan cricket dreams big, hopes to qualify for 2011 cricket World Cup
 
The Canadian Press
September 18, 2008
 
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — It may be more dream than realistic ambition, but the cricketers of war-torn Afghanistan are about to take the next step on their "Mission Impossible 2011" - playing the globe's best at the World Cup in three years time.
 
Afghanistan kept alive its dreams of meeting the likes of Australia and India by winning the World Cricket League Division Five in May - beating hosts Jersey by two wickets in a low-scoring final - and is now preparing for the next qualifying stage.
 
From Oct. 4-11, the young Afghans will compete in WCL Division Four against Hong Kong, Italy, Fiji, hosts Tanzania and Jersey. The top two finishers will progress to a six-team WCL Division 3 in Argentina in January.
 
From there, the top two sides will join a further 10 countries in the United Arab Emirates to play off for four berths alongside cricket's elite at the 2011 World Cup, to be jointly hosted by Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
 
"Lots of people in Afghanistan are closely following our journey toward World Cup and hopefully we will not disappoint them," says Bashir Stanekzai, general manager of the team.
 
"That's a long way, but we are moving in right direction."
 
There is one national cricket academy in the capital Kabul, but the Afghan players have decamped from the strife-torn nation to the relative calm of Peshawar in Pakistan to get some competitive games under their belts before travelling to Tanzania.
 
"We have good academy in Kabul, but the problem was we could not get tough matches like we'll be getting in Peshawar to train ourselves for the tournament in Tanzania," Stanekzai said.
 
A 13-day tour to Peshawar was organized in collaboration with the Pakistan Cricket Board, during which Afghanistan will play four practice matches.
 
Playing against the likes of Pakistan test players Yasir Hameed and Wajahatullah Wasti will test the capabilities and boost the morale of an Afghan team led by opening batsman Nauroz Khan Mangal.
 
They are coached by former Pakistan test paceman Kabir Khan, who is concentrating on toughening the players psychologically for the stiff competition ahead.
 
"I only have 15 days to work with the team before the start of the tournament, which is probably not enough," the 34-year-old Khan said.
 
"They don't need a lot of coaching cricketing wise - they just need help with the mental side of the game."
 
Stanekzai agreed with the need for mental fine-tuning, noting his side's difficulties in pursuing targets.
 
"The standard of bowling and fielding is excellent, but sometimes the batting lets us down as we lost eight wickets in the final against Jersey while chasing just 81 runs," Khan said.
 
After the low-scoring final in Jersey, Afghanistan crashed to a semifinal defeat in the ACC Trophy Elite 2008 against Hong Kong. It crumbled to 129 all out off just 43.4 overs, 25 runs short off its target.
 
"We need to use all the 50 overs, as we have a very good bowling attack, and if we get a score of 230 on the board we will be hard to beat," Khan said.
 
Confidence in the camp, which will run for the next few days ahead of the side's return to Kabul, is high and Khan has a belief in the ability of his players.
 
"The team has the potential to be promoted. I was the national coach of the UAE and I don't see any difference in standard between our team and players who played in the World Cricket League Division 2 and the Intercontinental Cup," he said.
 
Although the focus of the side, who will look to the likes of fast bowler Habid Hassan to star, will be on making it through to Division 3, Khan believes that if Afghanistan progress they have the potential to do well in the next stages of the competition as well.
 
"If we qualify for the next stage I hope the team will do well in that event as well," Khan said.
 
"Talent wise we are very good. I have seen a lot of players who have played Division 2 and Division 3 cricket and this is the most talented side I have seen."
 
Afghanistan will begin its campaign against Fiji on Oct. 4, with crunch games likely to be against Hong Kong and Italy on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9 respectively.

Afghanistan make it four in four
 
October 8, 2008
 
DAR ES SALAAM (AFP) — Afghanistan made it four wins out of four when they defeated Hong Kong by four wickets in the World Cricket League.
 
A fine all-round performance from Mohammad Nabi helped Afghanistan secure their latest win which puts them well on the way to promotion to Division Three and a step closer to the final qualifier for the 2011 World Cup to be held next year.
 
Nabi took 5 for 32 before cracking 70 runs.
 
Hong Kong were cruising to 152 for 2 from 40 overs, until Nabi tied them down to restrict their last ten overs.
 
Zain Abbas top scored with 69 and, together with Roy Lamsam (35), the pair added 84 for the third wicket. Nabi had other ideas, however, rattling through Hong Kong's middle and lower order to restrict Afghanistan's target to 207.
 
Afghanistan were 48 for 3 before Nowroz Mangal and Nabi turned the match on its head with a decisive 105-run fourth-wicket partnership.
 
Mangal fell shortly after notching his fifty, but Nabi continued with three sixes in a sparkling 78-ball 70.
 
Jersey got their first win of the tournament with a 79-run win over Fiji while the clash between Tanzania and Italy was abandoned due to rain and will be played on Thursday.