Afghanistan Journey - Rashid Khan Race to 1000 International Wickets

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I started an Afghanistan save during lockdown on CC19 and it was one of my most enjoyable CC saves ever. I got about 6 years in, and was progressing nicely in all three formats. As suspected Rashid Khan was absolutely incredible, his bowling average remained below 20 in all formats, and he won match after match for me. So I'm going to give them another go on CC20.

I will post Afghanistan's progress, with regular updates on Rashid's career stats. At present, his test average is 21.08, ODI is 18.55, and T20i 12.63.

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Our first 'series' is the T20 World Cup in Australia! We haven't had any opportunities to prepare/experiment, so we jump straight in with the following squad:

Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadaran, Asghar Stanikzai, Javed Ahmadi, Darwish Rasooli, Mohammad Shahzad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Mirwais Ashraf, Qais Ahmad, Aftab Alam, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen ul-Haq.

- A very youthful squad overall with eight players under 23, five of which are under the age of 21.
- Youngsters Gurbaz, Naveen & Qais all get call ups after impressive performances in the CPL.
- Ibrahim Zadran looks an exciting prospect with already international appearances across all three formats at the age of 18.
- Karim Janat had a great 2019 and could be our long term all-rounder solution with Nabi (35) not getting any younger.
- Rasooli is our only uncapped member of the squad. Another one of our youngsters, he's a very aggressive batsman with an incredible first class average of 74, and a 2nd XI T20 average of 56 @ 176 SR, the timing might be right for him to burst onto the T20i scene.

Our biggest selection headache is working out which spinners to pick. We have four world class options in Rashid, Mujeeb, Qais & Nabi. Rashid will obviously get the nod, and we might try seamer Janat as our all rounder to start with, meaning Nabi misses out. Which leaves us with Mujeeb and Qais. We could end up going with both, although the Aussie pitches probably won't offer much turn.

Another choice we will have to make is who to leave out of the batting line up from Gurbaz, Zadran & Ahmadi.

We start with a match against Papua New Guinea, who surprisingly managed to get through their qualifying group ahead of Ireland.

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As mentioned, we start against PNG. We decide to try three spinners, and go with the following side:

Afghanistan
Zadran, Shahzad, Gurbaz, Rasooli, Stanikzai, Zadaran, Janat, Khan, Qais Ahmad, Naveen ul-Haq, Mujeeb.

Looks a great pitch with sunny conditions. We would usually look to bowl first, but ideally we'd like to try our batters out against the weak opposition. We won the toss and chose to bat.

We made a bit of a shaky start and were 46-1 at the end of the powerplay, with Zadran falling for 8. A cluster of wickets left us 63-4 and looking at a potentially embarrassing defeat. However, after a period of rebuilding, our veteran pair of Shahzad and Zadaran combined to take us to 178-4, with an all time record 6th wicket partnership of 115. The brilliant Shahzad brought up a century in the final over, off just 55 balls, finishing on 103*. Zadaran ably supported him with a good knock of 45*. We took 85 from the final six overs, leaving us with a good total to defend.

A wicket in the first over from Naveen set the tone, with PNG 45-5 at the end of the powerplay. They were eventually skittled for 103 from 16 overs. Naveen ul-Haq (3-17), Qais Ahmad (3-18), Rashid Khan (2-20), Janat (2-28) shared the wickets, with no batsman passing 30.

Afghanistan - 178-4 - 20 overs (M Shahzad 103*, N Zadaran 45*)
Papua New Guinea - 103 all out - 16 overs (N Ul-Haq 3-17, Q Ahmad 3-18)

Afghanistan win by 75 runs
MOTM - M Shahzad

A comfortable win, but one we knew we should. It gets much tougher from here with matches vs Bangladesh, South Africa, England & India to come. Mujeeb didn't bowl particularly well so we could try Nabi, which would also help strengthen the batting. Also worrying that our inexperienced trio in the top order of Zadran, Gurbaz & Rasooli all failed to reach double figures.

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For our next match against Bangladesh we bring in Nabi for Mujeeb to strengthen the batting a bit. After a poor couple of years with the bat, he slots in down the order at number 7.

Afghanistan
Zadran, Shahzad, Gurbaz, Rasooli, Stanikzai, Zadaran, Nabi, Janat, Khan, Qais Ahmad, Naveen ul-Haq.

Once again it looks perfect batting conditions. I'm more comfortable bowling first but we lose the toss and are put in to bat.

Mustafizur bowled Zadran with the first ball of the match so it wasn't the greatest start, and a poor start to the tournament from Zadran. In form Shahzad also fell for 13 as we ended the powerplay on 39-2. Gurbaz and Stanikzai rebuilt the innings and put us into an ok position going into the last five overs at 106-3, with both batsmen set on 40. However, both fell shortly after, trying to up the rate. The incoming batsmen really struggled to score at all, and we limped to 130-7, taking just 18 off the final four overs and posting a total which looked way below par.

We were terribly unlucky in the powerplay, with Bangladesh giving away 9 chances, however, they somehow only lost one wicket and reached 43-1 after 6. They continued to ride their luck throughout the innings, giving away chance after chance, but our spinners managed to put the squeeze on, and the equation was 13 from 12 needed with 4 wickets in hand, with our two pacers to bowl. 9 runs and wicket were taken from the 19th over, meaning they needed just 4 from the last, and they got there with 3 balls to spare.

Afghanistan - 130-7 - 20 overs (A Stanikzai 43, R Gurbaz 41, M Saifuddin 4-18)
Bangladesh - 131-7 - 19.3 overs (L Das 33, S Sarkar 33, Q Ahmad 2-24)

Bangladesh win by 3 wickets
MOTM - M Saifuddin

The bowling so far has been encouraging. But we always knew the biggest problem would be the batting, and it has proved to be so far. The form of Zadran (8 and 0) and Rasooli (8 and 11) are the biggest concerns. Ahmadi is waiting in the wings if we opt for a change.

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Our next match is against South Africa. We make one change with Ahmadi coming in for Zadran.

Afghanistan
Ahmadi, Shahzad, Gurbaz, Rasooli, Stanikzai, Zadaran, Nabi, Janat, Khan, Qais Ahmad, Naveen ul-Haq.

Again looks like good batting conditions. We manage to win the toss and chose to bowl.

Janat got us off to a dream start, taking three wickets within his first two overs. SA reached 34-3 at the end of the powerplay. Then our three spinners were exceptional, taking combined figures of 4-49 from 12 overs to leave SA 77-7 with the seamers to finish the innings. Naveen took a couple of wickets, but a four boundaries from the tailenders meant they finished on 105-9. Surely we could chase this?!

A decent start took us to 42-1 from the powerplay with Shahzad the man to fall for 12. Ahmadi fell the next ball, but a partnership from Gurbaz and Rasooli put us well ahead of the rate. Both fell, but Stanikzai and Zadaran saw us home with 11 balls to spare.

South Africa - 105-9 - 20 overs (Q De Kock 38, Q Ahmad 3-18, K Janat 3-29, R Khan 1-18, M Nabi 0-13)
Afghanistan - 109-4 - 18.1 overs (R Gurbaz 31, D Steyn 1-12, D Pretorius 1-22)

Afghanistan win by 6 wickets
MOTM - Q Ahmad

A strong performance all round, especially from the bowlers. Leaves us 2nd in the group, however, Bangladesh are level on points with a game in hand, and we have a couple of tough games remaining vs England and India.

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Between matches, PNG pulled off a shock victory vs Bangladesh, so we are currently sitting 2nd in the group with everyone having played the same amount of games. Next up were England who had lost all three matches so far. With a tough match vs India to follow we knew we had to target this one to give ourselves a shot at the knockout stage. We went unchanged.

Afghanistan
Ahmadi, Shahzad, Gurbaz, Rasooli, Stanikzai, Zadaran, Nabi, Janat, Khan, Qais Ahmad, Naveen ul-Haq.

With a bit of cloud cover, and the pitch offering variable bounce, we really wanted to have a bowl at England first. We lost the toss, but Engand chose to bat anyway.

Naveen picked up Roy in the first over, however, Buttler and Root went berserk and England were 77-1 after the powerplay. Rashid slowed things down a little from his end taking 2-33, but the other two spinners were expensive, conceding a combined 0-100 from 8 overs. England were 181-3 with still 4 overs to go, but the two seamers bowled well at the death, and we ended up bowling them all out from the final ball for 205. Janat and Naveen finishing with four wickets each.

With our shaky batting line up we didn't really have much hope, and we were staring down the barrel at 41-3 after the powerplay. A great knock from Najibullah Zadaran gave us some credibility. The veteran was the only batsman who looked capable of scoring freely, reaching his 50 off 27 balls, and ended up being run out off the last ball of the innings for 58(30). Wickets tumbled around him, with only one other batsman passing 20, and we ended up finishing on 152-8, losing by 53 runs.

England - 205 all out - 20 overs (J Root 79, J Buttler 57, J Bairstow 32; N ul-Haq 4-33, K Janat 4-39)
Afghanistan - 152-8 - 20 overs (N Zadaran 58, R Gurbaz 31; C Woakes 3-23)

England win by 53 runs
MOTM - J Root

An extremely poor performance with the ball resulting in a crushing defeat. We were sitting 3rd in the table now, 2 points behind India and South Africa. India's superior NRR meant we would have to hammer them, or more likely - we would need South Africa to lose to Bangladesh, with us of course winning.

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With our two seamers bowling well in the tournament so far, and much of India's line up preferring spin bowling we decided to bring in the extra pacer in Aftab Alam. We didn't want to weaken our batting so Qais Ahmad would have to make way. Other than that, we stick with the same side but shuffle the batting a bit, with Gurbaz moving up to opener, and Ahmadi dropping down to no.5.

Afghanistan
Shahzad, Gurbaz, Rasooli, Stanikzai, Ahmadi, Zadaran, Nabi, Janat, Khan, Alam, Naveen ul-Haq.

We lost the toss and were asked to bat. The pressure was on to post a defendable total against a quality side.

Shahzad, and Gurbaz in particular, got us off to a great start and we were 47-0 at the end of the powerplay. The pair continued until Jadeja bowled Gurbaz in the 11th over for 45(33) - a good knock from the youngster. Shahzad continued and reached his 50 from 41 balls. He really stepped on the gas after this, and ended up finishing on 96* from 60 balls - a fantastic effort, making it Afghanistan's best individual score against India. He was ably supported from Stanikzai (23*), with the pair taking a liking to Hardik Pandya - hitting the seamer for 57 runs from his 4 overs. We finished on 179-2, but it could/should have been more if it wasn't for a great final over from Bumrah (3 runs). However, it was a great total, and gave us a great chance.

It was a formidable India batting line so we knew early wickets was key. Naveen stepped up again in his first over, getting the big wicket of Kohli. He took another in his 2nd over, with Rahul falling for a first ball duck. With the young seamer bowling well, we gave him a third over in the powerplay and he got the big wicket of Sharma for 23. India found themselves 52-3 at the end of the powerplay. Rashid struck with his first ball to get a well set Iyer, and then again in his second over to dismiss Pant. With Dhoni and Pandya getting set we decided to risk it and give Naveen his final over, and he struck again to dismiss Pandya, and then Jadeja the very next ball. It was a brilliant performance from our seamer finishing with 5-24 - a record performance for Afghanistan vs India - and leaving India 106-7. India still had a chance whilst Dhoni was still there, but after he was run out for 40 we knew the game was won, India eventually dismissed for 125 in 19 overs.

Afghanistan - 179-2 - 20 overs (M Shahzad 96*, R Gurbaz 45; J Bumrah 0-21)
India - 125 all out - 19 overs (M Dhoni 40; N ul-Haq 5-24, A Alam 2-22, R Khan 2-23, M Nabi 0-22)

Afghanistan win by 54 runs
MOTM - N ul-Haq

Amazing scenes... We had overtaken India in the table! Our NetRR finishing on +0.85, with India +0.79 thanks to that magical bowling performance. South Africa had managed to win their match meaning we finished 2nd in the table. Incredibly, PNG finished ahead of both Bangladesh and England, beating both in the process. Pakistan and West Indies had qualified from the other group, ahead of Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Namibia.

We would be facing Pakistan in the semi final.

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We decide to stick with 3 seamers for our semi final vs Pakistan, so we stay unchanged.

Afghanistan
Shahzad, Gurbaz, Rasooli, Stanikzai, Ahmadi, Zadaran, Nabi, Janat, Khan, Alam, Naveen ul-Haq.

We won the toss and chose to bowl. It's perfect batting conditions, so we knew if we kept Pakistan under 150 we would have a great chance.

A good powerplay from us, with a wicket each for Janat and Nabi leaving Pakistan 43-2 after 6. Nabi then struck again the very next ball to remove the big wicket of Babar Azam. Wickets continued to tumble, with Nabi and Janat finishing with 3 wickets apiece. And Naveen was exceptional once again, ending with a triple wicket maiden to finish with 4 wickets for just 16 runs, and meaning Pakistan were 135 all out with an over to spare.

Chasing just 136 we were firm favourites to reach the final, however, we were facing a formidable bowling attack. We lost Gurbaz in the first over, but some great hitting from Rasooli took us to 50-1 from the powerplay. Rasooli fell for a well made 45, but he'd brought the required run rate down to 6.1 per over. We lost Stanikzai and Shahzad, meaning Ahmadi and Zadaran were at the crease, and with only a shaky middle/lower order to follow, the nerves were creeping in with 55 runs required. The pair took the equation down to 12 from 12 balls, but then Imad Wasim condeded just 1 run from the first 5 balls of the over. Thinking we may have blown it, Ahmadi hit the next ball for four, and then Zadaran the next for six, followed by a single, meant we had reached our target with four balls to spare.

Pakistan - 135 all out - 19 overs (A Ali 33; N ul-haq 4-16, M Nabi 3-31, K Janat 3-34)
Afghanistan - 136-4 - 19.2 overs (Rasooli 45, Ahmadi 37*, Zadaran 30*; U Shinwari 2-20, S Khan 1-23)

Afghanistan win by 6 wickets
MOTM - N ul-Haq

Another incredible performance means we are in the World Cup final!! Perhaps what's most pleasing is the batting performance from Rasooli and Ahmadi. Both had struggled before this game, but they saw us home here, meaning all of our batsmen had now made a meaningful contribution which is encouraging. Our bowling unit is also looking formidable going into the final, lead by Naveen Ul-Haq who has remarkably taken 20 wickets in the competition at an average of 7.30, and economy of 6.35. Alam, Rashid and Nabi are all going at an economy under 7.00, and whilst Janat has been slightly more expensive, he has taken an impressive 13 wickets @14.62.

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A formidable looking West Indies side had chased down 188 in the other semi-final, so we would be facing them in the final. We remain unchanged.

Afghanistan
Shahzad, Gurbaz, Rasooli, Stanikzai, Ahmadi, Zadaran, Nabi, Janat, Khan, Alam, Naveen ul-Haq.

We lost the toss and were asked to bowl. No complaints with that outcome.

A good powerplay from WI as they reached 56-1 after 6. When Rashid took a wicket off a no ball we knew it probably wasn't going to be our day as WI continued to pile on quick runs, and they eventually finished on 194-7, Evin Lewis top scoring with 60(29). All our bowlers were expensive but Naveen was probably the pick once again with 3-37.

With our batting often struggling to make 130-150 we knew this was a near impossible task. A suicidal run out in the 3rd over didn't help things, followed by Rasooli edging to slip the very next ball, as we could only muster 36-2 from the powerplay. It was just a formality really from there for the West Indies as we could only muster 133-8. Could have been much worse if not for an unbeaten 50 9th wicket partnership from Zadaran 41* and Alam 28*.

West Indies - 194-7 - 20 overs (E Lewis 60, S Hetmyer 35; N ul-Haq 3-37)
Afghanistan - 133-8 - 20 overs (N Zadaran 41*; S Narine 3-21, J Holder 2-20)

West Indies win by 61 runs
MOTM - E Lewis

A disappointing result, and West Indies retain their World T20 crown, but that ends a fantastic World Cup campaign for us, where we were beaten finalists. An encouraging start to the series.

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Afghanistan World Cup review and statistics

An encouraging campaign overall. We started with a win against PNG, but after losing 2 of our next 3, we needed a massive win against India to stand a chance of qualifying, and we duly delivered, knocking India out by the finest of margins. We followed that up with a convincing win against Pakistan in the semi's, but then were comprehensively beaten by West Indies in the final.

As expected our bowling was definitely our stronger suit, with the batsmen often struggling, Shahzad being the only exception. He ended up the 3rd highest run scorer in the competition. Here's our top 5 batsmen, in order of runs scored:

M Shahzad: 7 innings, 2 NO's, 275 runs @ 55.00 with 143 SR.
N Zadaran: 6 innings, 4 NO's, 187 runs @ 93.50 with 133 SR
R Gurbaz: 7 innings, 0 NO's, 172 runs @ 24.57 with 108 SR
A Stanikzai: 7 innings, 2 NO's, 119 runs @ 23.80 with 104 SR
D Rasooli: 7 innings, 0 NO's, 114 runs @ 16.29 with 127 SR

The bowlers all performed well with Naveen of course the standout, who ended the tournament as leading wicket taker. Here's how our bowlers performed in order of number of wickets:

N Ul-Haq: 7 matches, 23 wickets @ 7.36, economy of 6.78
K Janat: 7 matches, 14 wickets @ 16.43, economy of 9.02
R Khan: 7 matches, 9 wickets @ 21.56, economy of 6.93
Q Ahmad: 4 matches, 8 wickets @ 15.00, economy of 8.00
M Nabi: 6 matches, 4 wickets @ 43.75, economy of 7.29
A Alam: 3 matches, 2 wickets @ 38.00, economy of 6.91
M Ur Rahman: 1 matches, 0 wickets, economy of 6.67

Our next series doesn't come much harder. It's a 2 match test series away at Australia.

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18 man squad for away tour of Australia

Batsmen:
I Janat, I Zadran, R Shah, B Shah, H Shahidi, A Stanikzai, D Rasooli

Wicketkeepers:
M Shahzad, M Ahmad

Seam bowling all-rounders:
K Janat, A Omarzai

Seam bowlers:
Y Ahmadzai, N ul-Haq, A Alam

Spin bowlers:
R Khan, M Ur Rahman, Q Ahmad, Z ur-Rehman

This will only be Afghanistan's 5th and 6th test match. To add to that, most Afghan players haven't played much more than 20 first class games (most being 37), so we're a little bit in the dark in terms of statistics. This means it will probably take us a good while - and probably many years - to settle on our best lineup. We have 8 potential debutants in the 18 man squad. Some further thoughts:

- I have an idea of what the batting line up should be so I'll probably use the same top 6 for both games.
- N ul-Haq and Y Ahmadzai look comfortably my best seamers so they will play both games.
- Choosing the spinners will be tricky. R Khan will obviously play, but it's a tough choice for the 2nd spinner.
- Both all-rounds look on par, so I will probably give them a match each, unless one puts in a great performance.

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For the first test we hand out Test debuts to Darwish Rasooli, Bahir Shah, Karim Janat, Zia ur-Rehman and Naveen ul-Haq. Rasooli and Shah both average 70+ in FC cricket. Janat looks a good batsman as first class level, and we don't expect to use him as a bowler too much, but he can bowl the odd spell here or there. Naveen naturally comes in after the world cup, but it also helps he has a strong FC record. ur-Rehman is probably the most controversial pick. But the 22 year old averages under 20 with the ball from 26 matches, also averaging 20 in OD cricket, and a strong 2nd XI record. Perhaps importantly he has a very low economy. In a series where we are large outsiders, he may be able to offer some control. Here's the line up:

Afghanistan:
I Janat, M Shahzad, R Shah, H Shahidi. B Shah, D Rasooli, K Janat, R Khan, Z ur-Rehman, N ul-Haq, Y Ahmadzai

Four days of sun are forecast, with perhaps a little rain on Day 5. The pitch looks like a road. Aussies are strangely leaving out Steve Smith, perhaps to injury? Other than that they look very strong. We won the toss and chose to bat.

Shahzad fell early for 4, but Janat and Shah combined nicely to get us to lunch at 80-1. Janat reached his 50 shortly after lunch from 98 balls, he was looking particularly impressive after struggling early against the new ball. Shah's 50 followed near the tea break, coming off 128 balls. We reached tea 149-1, the pair taking their partnership to 138*. Janat brought up a fantastic century in the evening; the feat coming off 217 balls with twelve fours. The pair also made it through the evening, as we closed Day 1 on 226-1. The 2nd wicket partnership was now worth 215*, with Janat on 134* and Shah 85*.

Heartbreak for Shah in the morning as he fell three runs short of a century, and a mammoth 239 partnership came to an end. The next partnership only lasted 7 balls, as Shahidi fell for a duck, and Janat fell shortly after for an excellent 146. Rasooli next fell for 12. Shah and Janat steadied the ship, before the latter fell for 24. Bahir Shah was playing nicely though, and brought up a 78 ball half-century, before falling the very next ball. We were 342-7 with Khan and ur-Rehman at the crease, who were both capable with the bat. And so it proved to be with the pair putting on 63, before Rashid fell for 37. Australia wrapped up the final two wickets and we were eventually all out for 414. A really good effort with the bat. Australia had a tricky hour to negotiate at the end of Day 2. Our star of the World Cup - Naveen - exceptional run continued, as he took the prized wicket of Warner for 8, before getting Joe Burns out in his next over for 5. Marsh and Labuschagne survived the rest of the session as Australia closed Day 2 on 41-2.

Our bowlers kept things tight in the morning, and we were rewarded with Ahmadzai getting the wicket of Labuschagne an hour into the session. He followed that up by also getting Travis Head in his next over. Aus were in trouble at 87-4 but the Marsh brothers saw them through to 123-4 at lunch. Rashid Khan got the big wicket of Shaun Marsh after lunch for 82, another wicket and we'd be into the bowlers. Naveen had Mitch Marsh caught in the slips... but oh no - it's a a no ball! It didn't cost us too much as Rashid got him a few overs later. Starc stuck around until Ahmadzai got him just before tea. Carey fell to Naveen with the new ball, and he got Cummins with a great return catch. Australia put on a stubborn last wicket partnership of 37 before Ahmadzai got Pattinson for 30. Australia were all out for 262, and we were in with a great chance of a historic win. We had 30 minutes to survive the remainder of Day 3, and with the pitch offering variable bounce it wasn't going to be easy. Shahzad and Janat did well to get us through the mini session wicketless.

Much of Day 4 would be cloudy so we were in for a tough day. We reached lunch 89-2, leading by 241. Afternoon session was slow and tough as we got to 152-5. All of our batsmen had reached double figure, but none had gone on to 50. We lead by 304, and with the Day 5 morning looking rainy we had a tough declaration decision to make. Chasing quick runs we were eventually bowled out for 203, a lead of 355. Aussies had 40 mins remaining of Day 4. They started quickly, before Rashid got Warner out with 4 overs remaining, and it could have been better had we held a catch the next over. Aus closed on 55-1 from 13 overs.

44 minutes were lost to rain in the morning, and all three results were still possible with Australia requiring 301 to win. Much of the day was very cloudy, and the pitch had deteriorated. Ahmadzai got Burns, and then Janat picked up a maiden Test wicket of Labuschagne, and Aus were three down at lunch. Aus motored along in the afternoon clearly pushing for the win, and another dropped catch could cost us big! Rashid got the breakthrough but Aus had reached 202-4, requiring 154 further runs, with 40 mins until Tea. Khan got another set batsman in Marsh for 79 just before Tea to leave us in the driving seat! Going into the final session Australia needed 104 to win, with 5 wickets in hand. Ahmadzai got Carey in the first over before Naveen got Starc. But Cummins and Mitch Marsh combined to get them towards the total before Janat had Cummins with the new ball. The equation was 38 required with 2 left. We couldn't break the deadlock though, and Australia won by 1 wicket. Absolute heartbreak.

Afghanistan - 414 all out (I Janat 146, R Shah 97, B Shah 50; J Pattinson 3-72, J Hazlewood 3-89)
Australia - 262 all out (S Marsh 82; N ul-Haq 4-54, Y Ahmadzai 4-65)
Afghanistan - 203 all out (P Cummins 4-40)
Australia - 357-9 (S Marsh 79, M Marsh 64*; R Khan 4-89)

Australia win by 1 wicket
MOTM - S Marsh

A great performance by us, but really gutting to lose that. 414 in the first innings was our record total in tests, as was Janat's 146, and his partnership with Shah of 239 was the first instance of a 150+ partnership for us in Tests.

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We made 2 changes for the 2nd Test, with Omarzai coming in for K Janat, and Mujeeb coming in for Z ur-Rehman. So we lined up:

Afghanistan:
I Janat, M Shahzad, R Shah, H Shahidi. B Shah, D Rasooli, A Omarzai, R Khan, M Ur Rahman, N ul-Haq, Y Ahmadzai

It looked set to be sunny throughout the match on a flat pitch so it would be a nice toss to win... Uh oh.. We lose and toss and are asked to bowl. Aus once again without Smith, it's been confirmed he's carrying a hamstring injury.

We did ok on Day 1 considering the circumstances, with Aus finishing 318-5. Ahmadzai (3-73) and Rashid Khan (2-47) were our only wicket takers, and both were going under 3 RPO. Our other bowlers struggled.

Mujeeb picked up 3 wickets in the morning, and Ahmadzai the last as Aus finished 394 all out just after lunch on Day 2. An impressive effort overall with the ball overall restricting them to under 400, and we never let the run rate get out of hand, with three of our five bowlers having an economy under 3. We once again looked good with the bat and closed the day 174-2 with Janat (84*) again impressing, alongside a quick 50 from Shahzad.

Janat brought up his 2nd century of the series in the morning, reaching 100 off 209 balls as we looked to overhaul the Aus total. When he fell for 134 we were 272-3 and only 122 behind. Shahidi brought up his 2nd Test match 50, but a cluster of wickets fell shortly before tea to leave us 6 down and 50 runs behind. It looked likely the game was going to be resolved by a 2nd innings shootout. Omarzai looked hopeless with the bat on his debut, and fell for a painful 8 runs. A 28 run partnership for the 9th wicket got us close to Australia, but we ended up 375 all out, trailing by 19 runs, with an hour remaining of Day 3. Naveen was all over Warner before getting his man, followed by Joe Burns being run out the very next ball. Aus were really riding their luck with multiple edges falling in the gaps, before Rashid got Labuschagne for 28, as Aus closed the Day 67-3, a lead of 86.

A good start to Day 4 was crucial, and Ahmadzai delivered by getting both overnight batsmen to leave Aus 125 ahead. However, hero from last game, and fresh off a first innings 50 - M Marsh - was at the crease, alongside T Paine, and the tail to come. Could we get M Marsh out cheaply this time? Unfortunately we could not, as he put on 146 with Paine and the tail, ending on 73*. Ahmadzai once again the pick with 4-75 as he ends the 2 match series with 14 wickets. Naveen wrapped up the tail and finished with 3 wickets, and our two spinners bowled economically and picked up a wicket apiece. Omarzai was not having the best of debuts.. wicketless across both innings, and looked shaky with the bat. So we required 266 to win, with 1.5 hours remaining on Day 4. The pitch was now offering uneven bounce so it was going to be very tough. Our top order would be crucial. Janat fell for 8, but Shahzad, and Shah saw us through to close at 53-1.

213 was needed on Day 5 with 9 wickets in hand, and when Shahzad and Shahidi fell early, Aus were already into our shaky middle order with 186 still required. Could one of them step up here to take us over the line? Rahmat Shah batted well, but wickets tumbled all around him, and he was eventually the last man to fall - for 81 as we fell 59 runs short. Our middle order is definitely a cause for concern.

Australia - 394 all out (J Burns 84, M Marsh 72, S Marsh 70, T Paine 56; Y Ahmadzai 4-94, M Ur Rahman 3-50)
Afghanistan - 375 all out (I Janat 134, H Shahidi 72, M Shahzad 65; J Pattinson 3-60, J Hazlewood 3-109)
Australia - 246 all out (M Marsh 73*; Y Ahmadzai 4-75, N ul-Haq 3-66)
Afghanistan - 206 all out (R Shah 81*; J Pattinson 3-42, P Cummins 3-50)

Australia win by 59 runs
MOTM - M Marsh

We definitely had opportunities to win this match, but ultimately fell short. A 2-0 series defeat, but some very encouraging performances against the World no.2's. Our next series is against Ireland which will give us a much better idea as to where we're at.

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Away test series vs Australia review and statistics (2-0 defeat).

Our Test match journey couldn't have started much tougher, but we performed well with both bat and ball. We really should/could have won both games, but ended up losing 2-0.

I Janat was for sure the standout with the bat, scoring two centuries. R Shah performed well too, but the middle order of Shah, Rasooli + all rounder was a cause for concern. Here's our top five runscorers:

I Janat: 315 runs @ 78.75
R Shah: 206 runs @ 51.50
H Shahidi: 121 runs @ 30.25
M Shahzad: 120 runs @ 30.00
B Shah: 80 runs @ 20.00

Ahmadzai stood out with the ball, with Rashid performing well. Naveen took 9 wickets but was fairly expensive, and Mujeeb did well in his one appearance. Zia was economical but unfortunately wicketless, and the two all rounders only managed 2 wickets from a combined 48 overs. Our top 5 wicket takers:

Y Ahmadzai: 14 wickets @ 22.57
R Khan: 9 wickets @ 27.00
N ul-Haq: 9 wickets @ 36.56
M Ur Rahman: 4 wickets @ 25.25 (1 match)
K Janat: 2 wickets @ 53.50 (1 match)

Next up we have 2 Tests, 3 ODI's & 3 T20i's at home to Ireland.

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13 man squad for 1st home Test Match vs Ireland

Batsmen:
I Janat, I Zadran, R Shah, B Shah, A Stanikzai

Wicketkeepers:
M Shahzad, M Ahmad, I Ali Khil

All rounders:
None

Seam bowlers:
Y Ahmadzai, N ul-Haq,

Spin bowlers:
R Khan, M Ur Rahman, Q Ahmad,

After a poor series vs Australia, and poor World Cup, Rasooli gets cut from the squad. As does Shahidi, who has been abysmal in FC cricket since the Australia tour, and overall, there are many players with a better record than he has. We'll prepare spinning tracks, so we'll be comfortable playing just four bowlers, therefore the two all-rounders get dropped. Young keeper Ali Khil comes into the squad; with already international experience under his belt, he has been averaging 85 from 5 matches in FC cricket this season. Main dilemmas are:

- We have a tough choice as to which batsman gets left out. Bahir Shah has been out of form but I'd like to stick with him a little longer. The experience of Stanikzai might be useful in a fragile middle order, so that leaves 2 spots between Zadran, Ahmad and Ali Khil.
- The other choice we have to make is who to choose between Mujeeb and Qais. With Mujeeb performing well in his sole match vs Australia, and Qais out of form for Gloucestershire, it looks a fairly simple decision.