Updated June 05, 2019 07:56:30

Photo: Sri Lanka earned a much-needed Cricket World Cup win, but Afghanistan did not make things easy in Cardiff. (AP/PA: David Davies)

Sri Lanka survived a woeful batting collapse to beat Afghanistan by 34 runs in a rain-shortened World Cup thriller in Cardiff.

The 1996 World Cup champions limped to 201 all out in the 37th over as Afghanistan — led by an all-but-unplayable over from all-rounder Mohammad Nabi — grabbed nine wickets for 57 runs to give themselves a chance of pulling off a shock win.

Afghanistan needed a rain-revised target of just 187 from 41 overs but they failed to gain any momentum in their run chase and completely lost their way after opener Mohammad Shahzad's dismissal in the fifth over triggered the fall of five wickets for just 23 runs.

After Afghanistan were reduced to 5-57, a partnership of 64 by Najibullah Zadran and captain Gulbadin Naib gave them hope.

But fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep grabbed two quick wickets before Najibullah was run out by Dimuth Karunaratne for 43.

That set up a tense finale as the last two batsmen needed another 42 runs to hand Afghanistan their first World Cup win against a Test-playing nation.

But Sri Lanka made sure that victory did not come at their expense as Lasith Malinga bowled Hamid Hassan with a yorker four balls later.

Pradeep was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers as he claimed a career best four wickets for 31 runs as Afghanistan were bowled out for 152 in the 33rd over.

"One hundred and eighty seven is not easy to defend, we know their openers go hard, but once we got them they were on the backfoot and we kept getting wickets," Sri Lanka captain Karunaratne said.

Nabi's brilliance puts Sri Lanka on back foot

Photo: Mohammad Nabi (C) nearly turned the game with three wickets in five balls during the Sri Lankan innings. (AP/PA: David Davies)

Earlier, Sri Lanka's batsmen had also lost their way as they fell from 1-144 to 201 all out.

Nabi sparked the collapse when he grabbed three wickets in the space of five deliveries by producing a brilliant spell of spin bowling in the 22nd over. He first got through Lahiru Thirimanne's defences to bowl the Sri Lankan number three for 25 off the second ball of the over.

Two balls later Kusal Mendis was caught by Rahmat Shah for 2 to make it 3-146, and with the final ball of the over Nabi produced the same result, with Angelo Mathews caught by Shah for a duck to throw the Sri Lankan innings into confusion.

Nabi finished with four wickets for 30 runs.

Sri Lanka slid steadily to 8-182 before play was paused due to rain.

Some big hitting by the tailenders carried Sri Lanka over the 200 run mark after play resumed. Wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Perera top-scored with 78 off 81 balls, which included eight boundaries.

But he ran out of partners at the other end and holed out in desperation.

"The wicket was not easy for the batsmen and so we'd asked the bowlers to hit the deck hard and they came back well during the middle overs," Afghanistan skipper Naib said.

The win over Afghanistan handed Sri Lanka their first win of the tournament after they were beaten by South Africa in their opener. Afghanistan are rooted to the bottom of the 10-team standings having lost both of their matches.

Reuters

Topics: sport, cricket, onedayseries, england, afghanistan, sri-lanka

First posted June 05, 2019 07:29:42