Scotland and Afghanistan are each targeting a first-ever Cricket World Cup victory when they meet in Dunedin today.
Both of the minnow nations have given more fancied opposition a scare at this year’s tournament, but are yet to win a match.
Afghanistan looked a realistic prospect of upsetting Sri Lanka when they reduced the former world champions to 51-4 before a Mahela Jayawardene century consigned them to a four-wicket defeat.
Scotland gave co-hosts New Zealand some nervous moments when they took seven wickets as the Black Caps, one of the tournament favorites, chased a paltry 143-run target.
Both of the non-Test playing “associate” nations have now lost two from two in their Pool A matches and have virtually no chance of reaching the quarter-finals, making a maiden victory their major goal for the tournament.
Scotland, who have appeared at two previous World Cups, but are still yet to win a match, followed up their stirring display against New Zealand with a lackluster 119-run loss to England.
However, captain Preston Mommsen said his team were not disheartened and were putting in the “hard graft” needed to prepare for the Afghanistan match.
“It’s a critical game for us,” he said. “Having played them quite a bit in recent times, it’s important that we put in a big performance.”
Scotland and Afghanistan have played each other eight times in one-day internationals, with Scotland on the wrong end of a 5-3 losing record.
However, they inflicted a heavy 150-run defeat on their opponents in Dubai last month, the last time they met, with Afghanistan bowled out for 63 as medium pacer Josh Davey ran riot and ended with figures of 6-28.
“We know what we have to do to overcome them,” said Scotland assistant coach Paul Collingwood, a gritty former England batsman.
Collingwood said that elusive first victory was a major motivating factor for his side.
“We’re not just here to enjoy the World Cup,” he said. “We’re here to win games, and we’ll keep battling and trying to play the positive cricket we know can hopefully bring us a win.”
Afghanistan’s attack is likely to be led by Hamid Hassan, who is shaping up as the cult hero of this year’s tournament, with his red bandanna and face paint in the national colors.
He is Afghanistan’s leading wicket-taker at the tournament with five dismissals, including Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, which he celebrated with an unsteady cartwheel down the pitch.
Hassan once described Afghanistan, who are making their tournament debut, as the “Rambo” of the cricket world and admits his look is based on the movie’s star Sylvester Stallone.
“I think that there is a similarity in the story of Rocky and the Afghanistan cricket team — we both started at the bottom and gradually made our way up the rankings,” he said.
Many of Afghanistan’s players learned their cricket in refugee camps after fleeing their war-torn nation and a win in their first World Cup appearance would be a major achievement.
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barça secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barça a 2-0 win over
RSS