Email This Article To Someone!Even the six points for a first innings lead are very much in doubt after the Afghans, now a true emerging nation rather than the Asian upstarts which announced themselves on the world stage with their fifth place finish at the World Cup qualifying tournament, finished day two on 263 for three, just 142 runs behind Ireland’s total.
Even with eight bowlers at his disposal - and William Porterfield rung the changes throughout a day when they had to bowl 74 overs - the quality of the injured Boyd Rankin and Regan West and retired Kyle McCallan was badly missed.
Peter Connell and Trent Johnston failed to make any impression in their opening overs and Alex Cusack, introduced in the seventh over, failed to make any difference.
John Mooney, on the back of impressive bowling in the nets in the four days in Abu Dhabi and here in Sri Lanka, prior to this match, was given the ball ahead of the proven Andre Botha and Kevin O’Brien. Mooney bowled four overs for 22, Botha, with 143 international wickets under his belt, unbelievably, was not introduced until the 51st over, and has still bowled only six overs despite taking a wicket in his third. Porterfield reports all his bowlers are fit and raring to go.
It needed a slow bowler to break the opening partnership, and Gary Kidd, the specialist chosen to replace McCallan, his Waringstown team-mate, did it with his eighth delivery.
Three overs later Connell, in a much improved second spell claimed the wicket of the impressive Noor Ali, caught behind chasing a wide one, but that was as good as it got for Ireland. From 74 for two, Shabir Noori dug in, unlike any of the Ireland batsmen on day one - he has so far faced 153 balls for 44 - and the runs flowed at the other end.
Captain Nowroz Mangal scored 84 with 16 boundaries - there have already been 44 in the innings, 15 of them through thirdman which was left vacant for most of the day - and wicket keeper Mohammad Shahzad then helped himself to a run-a-ball 60 with power to add this morning.
Porterfield is banking on the new ball to make the difference and “maybe sneak a wicket in the first six overs while the batsmen are getting in again tomorrow” but he admits the Afghans are ahead of the game. The one positive in the day was the batting of Mooney. The North County all rounder bettered his best score for Ireland for the second time in four games and reached his first half century in 86 balls with his eighth four.
He was left stranded on 58 after Peter Connell lost his middle stump but not before the pair had added 66 for the 10th wicket - the highest outside Ireland and their best in the I-Cup.
Despite the early loss of Johnston and Kidd yesterday, it allowed Ireland to pass what they thought would be the psychological barrier of 400. The only team which needed help this morning was Ireland.
Scorecard
Afghanistan Vs Ireland 2-Innings Match Played At Dambulla, 21-Jan-2010, FC Intercontinental Cup Round 718 Toss won by Ireland Umpires R Martinesz & TH Wijewardene (both Sri Lanka) Comment 718/3
Referee: Ishtiaq Ahmed (Pakistan)
4 day match 21, 22 , 23,. 24 January
Close
Day 1: Ireland 324-7(98 overs, J Mooney 5* DT Johnston 0*)
Day 2: Ireland 405 , Afghanistan 263-3 (74 overs, Shabir Noori 44*, Mohammad Shahzad 60*)
Day 3: Ireland 1st Innings 405/10 All Out (Overs 118) Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Min Bls 4s 6s WTS Porterfield* c Samiullah Shenwar b Hamid Hassan 78 175 134 7 2 GC Wilson c Hamid Hassan b Mohammad Nabi 53 114 89 9 0 AR Cusack c Mohammad Shahzad b Samiullah Shenwari 39 96 92 9 0 NJ O'Brien+ c Mohammad Shahzad b Karim Sadiq Khan 66 157 119 9 0 AC Botha st Mohammad Shahzad b Samiullah Shenwari 0 7 7 0 0 KJ O'Brien lbw b Samiullah Shenwari 16 53 35 2 0 AR White c Karim Sadiq Khan b Hamid Hassan 43 90 89 6 0 JF Mooney not out 58 105 90 9 0 DT Johnston lbw b Samiullah Shenwari 2 23 20 0 0 GE Kidd c Mohammad Shahzad b Hamid Hassan 4 17 18 0 0 P Connell b Shapoor Zadran 18 51 29 4 0 extras (b0 lb13 w2 nb13) 28 TOTAL 10 wickets for 405 FOW 1-120(GC Wilson) 2-170(WTS Porterfield) 3-203(AR Cusack) 4-203(AC Botha) 5-231(KJ O'Brien) 6-316(NJ O'Brien) 7-323(AR White) 8-328(DT Johnston) 9-339(GE Kidd) 10-405(P Connell) Bowler O M R W wd nb Dawlat Ahmadzai 11 2 32 0 - - Shapoor Zadran 10 1 33 1 - - Hamid Hassan 24 4 91 3 - 13 Noor Ali 2 0 21 0 1 - Mohammad Nabi 27 3 102 1 - - Samiullah Shenwari 27 5 75 4 - - Karim Sadiq Khan 15 5 31 1 1 - Nowroz Mangal 2 0 7 0 - - Afghanistan 1st Innings 263/3 (Overs 74) Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Min Bls 4s 6s Karim Sadiq Khan b GE Kidd 19 75 46 4 0 Noor Ali c NJ O'Brien b P Connell 53 89 71 9 0 Shabir Noori not out 44 0 152 5 0 Nowroz Mangal* c NJ O'Brien b AC Botha 84 118 113 16 0 Mohammad Shahzad+ not out 60 0 64 11 0 Mohammad Nabi dnb - Asghar Stanikzai dnb - Samiullah Shenwari dnb - Dawlat Ahmadzai dnb - Hamid Hassan dnb - Shapoor Zadran dnb - extras (b0 lb1 w0 nb2) 3 TOTAL 3 wickets for 263 FOW 1-72(Karim Sadiq Khan) 2-74(Noor Ali) 3-178(Nowroz Mangal) Bowler O M R W wd nb P Connell 12 6 24 1 - - DT Johnston 14 3 58 0 - 1 AR Cusack 7 1 37 0 - - GE Kidd 17 8 45 1 - - JF Mooney 4 0 22 0 - 1 AR White 11 2 46 0 - - AC Botha 6 3 14 1 - - KJ O'Brien 3 0 16 0 - -
