South Africa overcome Sri Lanka with an all round performance while Pakistan suffered yet another loss this time to minnows Afghanistan.
First day of the warm up games saw South Africa make easy work of their opponents with a good all round display. Batting first, South Africa notched up a mammoth 338/7 on board before their bowlers turned up to castle SL for 251.
South African batting got off to a brisk start as every batsmen apart from David Miller got a start and some crucial game time. The second wicket partnership of 128 between Amla and du Plessis set the tone for the lower middle order to come in and play freely.
While Amla scored a steady 65 that comprised of 9 fours, du Plessis took every bowler to the cleaners smashing 88 of just 69 balls. It also saw him smash a total of 7 fours and 4 sixes.
Just when flurry of wickets in the middle order looked to have halted SA’s progress, every lower middle order batsman scored at a brisk pace to.take the side’s total over 300. Not one could be picked as an exceptional bowler for SL but Lakmal and Pradeep profited with 2 wickets each.
The run chase got off to the worst possible start as both Kusal Perera and Thirimanne fell early to Ngidi. Kusal Mendis tried to repair the innings but fell after scoring 37.
It was the pair of Karunaratne (87) and Mathews (64) that kept SL still alive in the game. After Rabada broke the partnership in the 30th over, Phehlukwayo ran through the SL lower order to register a convincing 87 run victory for SA.
South Africa 338 for 7 (du Plessis 88, Amla 65, Lakmal 2-63) beat Sri Lanka 251 (Karunaratne 87, Mathews 64, Phehlukwayo 4-36, Ngidi 2-12) by 87 runs.
Meanwhile minnows Afghanistan stunned Pakistan as they chased down the target in the last over to record a 3 wicket victory. This now sees Pakistan lose their 11th consecutive ODI match.
The trio of Nabi, Rashid Khan and Dawlat Zadran bowled exceedingly well to restrict Pakistan for just 262 at Bristol. They had managed to achieve this feat despite Babar Azam managing to score a century (112).
Shahzad began the run chase in a positive fashion hitting 5 boundaries. But he was seen limping off the field in the 7th over. Zazai (49) first stitched a crucial partnership with Rahamt (32) and then Shahidi (74) to control of the game.
When Shenwari got out in the 33rd over, Afghanistan were in firm control needing just 85 runs in the next 17 overs. Nabi then played a sensible knock alongside Shahidi to guide the team to a famous victory.
Wahab Riaz was the only bowler to stand out picking up 3 wickets for 46 runs. Thus Pakistan will need to consider this as a wake up call and recoup again and get back to winning ways.
Afghanistan 263 for 7 (Shahidi 74, Wahab 3-46) beat Pakistan 262 all out (Babar 112, Nabi 3-46) by three wickets.
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