Afghanistan celebrate historic series triumph in Zimbabwe

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe: Afghanistan made history on Saturday when they became the first Associate nation to defeat a Test-playing country in a one-day series with a comprehensive 73-run win over Zimbabwe.
The victory gave Afghanistan a 3-2 series win after the two sides had shared the first four games at the Queen’s Sports Club.
Chasing a 246-run winning target, Zimbabwe were skittled out for 172 in the 45th over despite Sean Williams making a fine 102 off 124 balls with three boundaries and four sixes.
Fast bowler Dawlat Zadran finished with a career best 4-22 in his 10 overs.
Earlier, opener Noor Ali Zadran made 54 and Mohammad Nabi, who hit a maiden century in the second match of the series, chipped in with 53 as Afghanistan reached 245-9 in their 50 overs.
“We made history. It’s the first time that an Associate team has beaten a Full Member in a series,” Nabi told. “I’m very happy with my team’s performance and my performance. It’s very good for me and also for my team.”
He added: “When we batted first, we decided that if we scored 250 it would be difficult to chase on that pitch. The openers and then the middle-order batsmen, they played very well.”
Afghanistan batsman Samiullah Shenwari later tweeted: “Simply an awesome display of cricket by our lads. We created a history, congrats everyone.”