Afghan U-19s beat KP club in friendly opener

KABUL’s under-19 cricket team on Saturday won their opening one-day friendly match against a visiting Pakistani club in the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, an official said.

Invited by Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), the visiting young cricketers from northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province arrived to a warm reception in Jalalabad via Torkham border crossing on Friday.

The two sides met in the Ghazi Amanullah Khan International Cricket Stadium, about 15 kilometres outside the city.

ACB spokesman Farid Hotak told Pajhwok Afghan News the warm-up matches with the KP-based Malik Sports Cup in the UAE next year.

He said the matches that began on Saturday will last a week and that it is for the second time a foreign cricket team is touring Afghanistan.

After winning the toss in their maiden friendly, the Afghan under-19 side decided to field, with the Pakistani club setting them a 205 runs target for losing 9 wickets in the 49th over.

For Afghanistan, Farid Malak and Ziaur Rahman took three wickets each and Mujtaba two, Sher Agha Hamkar, the Afghan team manager, told Pajhwok Afghan News. He said the national side chased the target in the 40th over with five wickets in hand.

Nasir Jamal scored a half century and made 55 runs followed by Mujtaba with 48 runs and Amir Mangal with 35.

He said the friendly matches were part of a preparation programme to help boost the team’s morale ahead of the World Cup.

The under-19 side defeated Afghanistan-A team in two matches at the same venue last week.

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