Ireland seamer Mark Adair's outstanding spell bundled out Afghanistan at a mere total of 155 runs on the first day of the one-off Test Tolerance Oval on Wednesday.
At Day 1 stumps, Ireland are 100/4, with Harry Tetor (32) and Paul Stirling (2) unbeaten on the crease. Afghanistan skipper Hashnmatullah Shahidi won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Ibrahim Zadran and Noor Ali Zadran came out to open the innings. Both the batters were able to put on 11 runs before the side lost the latter after scoring just 7 runs. Rahmat Shah was also on the same score after playing just three balls. After two quick wickets, Shahidi came out to crease to in order to stabilise the innings along with Zadran. They both put on a partnership of 55 runs before the skipper was sen back to the dressing room after scoring 20 runs with the help of four boundaries. Zadran was sent back to the dressing room after scoring 53 runs, which were laced by nine fours on the bowling of Craig Young when the team score was 90. All-rounder Karim Janat played an important knock for the team and remained unbeaten till the end. He scored 41 runs, which included six fours in his innings. The highest wicket-taker for the Irish team was Mark Adair who snapped five wickets in his spell of 16.5 overs, where he leaked just 39 runs. Two wickets were grabbed by Young and Curtis Campher in their spells of 11 and 4 overs, where they conceded 31 runs and 13 runs, respectively. In reply to Afghanistan's score of 155 runs, the Ireland team lost the wicket of skipper Andrew Balbirnie after just scoring two runs when the team's score was 6. Peter Moor was the next batter to be dismissed. He was able to score 12 runs before going back. Campher came to the crease and played a good inning. He missed a well-deserved 50 as he was dismissed for 47 which was laced by seven fours and a six. For the Afghanistan side, the pick of the bowlers was Naveed Zadran and Ziar-ur-Rehman who bagged two wickets each in their spells of nine overs, where they conceded 32 and 13 runs, respectively. Brief Score: Ireland 100/4 in 31 overs (Curtis Campher 49, Harry Tector 32*, Zia-ur-Rehman 2/13) vs Afghanistan 155 in 54.5 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 53, Kari Janat 41*, Mark Adair 5/39). (ANI)
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