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ZIMBABWE captain Graeme Cremer said he could barely breathe amid a spectrum of emotions during the dramatic late stages of his team’s stunning comeback win over Afghanistan in a thrilling World Cup Qualifier at Queens Sports Club yesterday.

Recalling the final over, when last pair Dawlat and Shapoor Zadran required four runs for victory, the home side’s skipper said: “I couldn’t actually breathe. It was so nerve-wracking out there.”

After a dot and a single, Brian Vitori had Shapoor caught behind to seal the win. “We had fought back so well,” said Cremer, “it would have been a shame if there was a nick for four or something. Luckily it went to the keeper and I’m really happy for the guys.”

Cremer was delighted that his team managed to defend a below-par 196 — particularly given Afghanistan were 156-3 at one stage.

“We were hoping for 260, we thought that was par. But in these sort of situations when you have a score on the board you feel like you’re never out of the game, and it showed today.

“We held the middle overs nicely and we knew that one or two wickets at any stage could turn things and that’s what happened.”

He also paid tribute to the army of Zimbabwe fans who did so much to create a memorable atmosphere at Queens.
“To see them turn out like this is excellent and we’re so happy we didn’t disappoint them,” he said.

Star all-rounder Sikandar Raza — who picked up the Player of the Match award for his 60 with the bat and 3-40 with the ball (all picked up in one match-turning over) — spoke of the team’s character in the second half of the game.

Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan admits his team must now consider every match as a final. Afghanistan arrived at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers as favourites, but after defeats to Scotland and Zimbabwe in their first two matches they are left with an uphill battle in order to make the Super Six round of the competition, and then go on to the final.

While Calum MacLeod’s ton undid Afghanistan in their first match, in their second it took a team effort — and some all-round brilliance from Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza — to see Afghanistan off.

“It was a bad day for us,” said stand-in captain Rashid Khan. “We bowled really well to restrict them to under 200, and the bowlers did their job. We batted well too, until the end.
“It’s a part of the game, you can’t say anything about it.”

It seemed Afghanistan were cruising towards an easy win when Rahmat Shah and Mohammad Nabi combined to guide them to 156-3 in the 34th over.

But Blessing Muzarabani then removed Rahmat for 69, and the match turned after stunning over from Raza, the Zimbabwean picking up three wickets in six balls as Afghanistan slipped to 169-7.

“We started really well with our batting, with a good partnership in the middle,” said Rashid. “But the one thing we didn’t do well was to finish it off. We couldn’t contain the pressure at that time.”

At 177-9 it seemed the match was almost over, but Afghanistan’s tail rallied to get them to the brink. Dawlat and Shapoor Zadran batted Afghanistan into the final over, when just five runs were needed.

“We had the game until the last over,” said Rashid. “We needed less runs than there were balls to be bowled, and in that situation you always have a chance to win the game. But it wasn’t in our luck to win the game. The tailenders batted so well, batting 10 overs to put us in that position. We were in the game until the end.

“We lost our first two games, crucial games,” he said. “But we still have a chance to get to the Super Six.
“After this, we will consider every match as if it’s a final.
“We shouldn’t be thinking about what’s happened, we should come back and play Hong Kong and Nepal, and then move into the next round and consider every match as a final. Our team is capable of beating any team, but this is cricket and this is part of the game.

“Sometimes it happens that you’re playing good cricket, but you’re not getting the result you want.
“But we’ll bounce back, and we’ll just try to play simple cricket, how we’ve played in the last one or two years and how we’ve been successful. We’ll just focus on that.” — ICC.