from ci-
Afghanistan v Namibia (1st in Group A v 1st in Group B)
After a pair of tight victories to start off Group A against Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands, Afghanistan coasted through the rest of pool play to finish with seven wins from seven. Mohammad Shahzad and Karim Sadiq are second and third overall on the tournament runs aggregate list, with 261 and 255 respectively. When the team ran into trouble against PNG and Canada, Mohammad Nabi and Samiullah Shenwari contributed key half-centuries. If one member of the batting unit fails, someone is always ready to pick up the slack.
Dawlat Zadran has stepped up in the absence of Hamid Hassan to lead the bowling unit with 11 wickets, including 5 for 14 against Hong Kong. The spin trio of Sadiq, Shenwari and Zamir Khan have bowled economically and combined for 19 wickets.
They'll have their hands full against a very deep Namibia batting lineup which brutalised Group B bowling attacks to be the highest scoring team in the tournament and also finish undefeated. The Namibians batted first in six out of seven games, posting big totals to build scoreboard pressure. Raymond van Schoor has played a major role in that, leading the tournament in both runs and average with 323 at 80.75.
Louis van der Westhuizen scored one of the tournament's two centuries with 106 not out in 54 balls against Scotland and his strike rate of 172.72 is the best of anyone in the tournament with a minimum of 50 runs. Opener Gerrie Snyman is also a tone-setter: he is Namibia's third-highest scorer with 173 runs, 69% of which have come in fours and sixes.
Namibia had two close games against Ireland and Uganda, both of which were won by four runs. Their recipe for success against Scotland, USA and Italy was to bat them out of the game to mask an average bowling attack. They'll have to do the same if they are to come out on top against Afghanistan.
Match begins at 6 am today on Espn3.
Goodluck Afghanistan - Missed you in Asia Cup. The more the merrier!