Javed Ahmadi equalled his previous best but Afghanistan were restricted to 212 for six batting first against the West Indies in the first fixture of a three-match One-Day International series at the Darren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia on Friday.
Ahmadi’s 81 was the cornerstone of their effort on a pitch that offered some assistance to the faster bowlers. However the West Indies bowlers were disciplined without being consistently threatening against players who are generally limited in their strokeplay.
Opening the batting with Noor Ali Zadran, Ahmadi lost his opening partner to Jason Holder when the batsman chased a wide delivery from the home captain in the sixth over of the innings. He then put on 55 with Rahmat Shah and featured in another useful stand with Samiullah Shenwari.
Ahmadi never really dominated the bowling though, and when he eventually departed in the 37th over with the score at 131 for five, Afghanistan were desperately in need of acceleration.
That much-needed urgency was finally injected into the innings with the arrival of Gulbadin Naib at the crease as he belted an unbeaten 41 off 28 deliveries, dominating an unbroken seventh-wicket partnership of 58 with Mohammad Nabi (27 not out).
Holder was the main sufferer of the late assault, conceding 36 runs off his last three overs. In an attack dominated by faster bowlers, off-spinner Ashley Nurse emerged as the most successful of the West Indies bowlers, taking two for 34 off his ten-over allotment.
Despite sweeping the visitors 3-0 in the T20 International series, the West Indies squad is an almost entirely different one with only batsmen Evin Lewis and Jason Mohammed in the final 11 from the squad that played in St Kitts.
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