Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott was proud of his side’s landmark World Cup victory over Sri Lanka, hailing a team who no longer “rock up and it’s left to luck.”
Monday’s seven-wicket defeat of the 1996 champions in Pune followed Afghanistan’s eight-wicket win over Pakistan.
Victory also meant Afghanistan, who had already beaten defending champions England, had won back-to-back matches at the World Cup for the first time.
Photo: AFP
Afghanistan have six points and sit in fifth place in the table, two behind New Zealand and Australia with the top four guaranteed to make the semi-finals.
It is an impressive feat for a team that had won just one game — against non-Test nation Scotland — at their two World Cups prior to this edition.
“There’s such an amount of talent, and we’ve just given a bit of structure, a bit of a game-plan, understanding what makes them the best players that they can be,” Trott said. “And so, when it comes to match-day, it’s not just sort of rock up and it’s left to luck.”
“But I say to the players, the beauty of cricket is if you’re playing well, the challenge then is to back it up the next game... The challenge for us is going to be able to start again against the Netherlands,” the former England batsman added.
Afghanistan’s run-chases in their past two wins have seen them bat with the composure that was a hallmark of Trott’s career.
Set 242 against Sri Lanka, they overcame the loss of opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a fourth-ball duck before Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (58 not out) and Azmatullah Omarzai (73 not out) settled any lingering nerves with an unbroken stand of 111.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
RSS