National all rounder Sherwin Ganga warmed-up for the Afghanistan clash tonight by hitting 42 against the same opponents yesterday in a warm-up T20 match at the National Cricket Centre (NCC) in Couva. Playing for PowerGen, Ganga scored 42 off 40 balls and opener Nicholas Sookdeosingh smashed 34 off 24 balls but it was not enough to prevent their team from defeat at the hands of the World Cup-bound Afghanistan. Set 174 runs for victory, Powergen were restricted to 118 for eight in 18 overs. Bad light ended the game prematurely but PowerGen would have needed 153 in 18 overs to win.
Earlier, Afghanistan got their impressive score, thanks to a hurricane 35 from 13 balls by Gulbadin Naib. The right hander struck four sixes and a four which thrilled the crowd in Couva. Also among the runs were Karem Sadeq 51 (retired) with four sixes and two fours and skipper Nawroz Mangal 44 (retired) with two sixes and three fours. National youth player Tevin Robertson grabbed 2/21, while spinner Akash Ramjitsingh was also impressive with 2/11.
Across in Tobago, Bangladesh were also winners, as they hammered Tobago by 59 runs in front of 800 fans at Shaw Park. Ziaur Rahman 34, Mushfiqur Rahim 32, Zunaed Siddique 27 took their team to 169 for eight off 20 overs. Tobago in reply made 110 for eight with former T&T and West Indies player Lincoln Roberts scoring 14. Today, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will focus their attention on the Asia versus the Caribbean T20 Extravaganza, with Bangladesh battling Barbados from 3.25pm at the Oval and Afghanistan facing T&T from 7.15pm at the same venue.
SCORES:
Bangladesh vs Tobago XI at Shaw Park.
Bangladesh 169/8 (20)(Ziaur Rahman 34, Mushfiqur Rahim 32, Zunaed Siddique 27, Jahron Alfred 2/25, Adrian Daniel 2/36) vs Tobago 110/8 (20)(Marcus Daniel 30, Lincoln Roberts 14, Shafiul Islam 2/13) - Bangladesh won by 59 runs.
Afghanistan vs PowerGen at NCC.
Afghanistan 173/4 (20)(Karem Sadeq 51rt, Nawroz Mangal 44rt, Gulbadin Naib 35, Tevin Robertson 2/21, Akash Ramjitsingh 2/11) vs PowerGen 118/4 (18) - Sherwin Ganga 42, Nicholas Sookdeosingh 34, Gregory Mahabir 28no, Shapur Zadran 2/8) - PowerGen was set a revised target of 153 in 18 overs. Afghanistan won by 35 runs.
