Sadiq savages Netherlands

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The Netherlands were made to toil in Sharjah as opener Karim Sadiq blasted his way to a sensational 74-ball century for Afghanistan

Karim Sadiq’s blistering century helped Afghanistan bounce back from Thursday’s defeat to the Netherlands with a five-wicket win over the same opponents in Sharjah.

Beaten by nine wickets two days earlier, Nawroz Mangal’s side delivered a much improved performance in this World Cricket League one-day international as they chased down a target of 257 with 22 balls to spare.

Opener Sadiq’s 74-ball 100, which contained 12 fours and four sixes, was key to their successful chase, while skipper Mangal finished unbeaten on 45 after Javed Ahmadi and Mohammad Shahzad had also passed 30 at the top of the order.

Michael Swart, Alexei Kervezee, Tom Cooper and Wesley Barresi had all impressed with the bat after the Netherlands had been put in first, the quartet all contributing scores between 47 and 52.

The Dutch were unable to accelerate as they would have wished in the closing overs, however, as seamer Izatullah Dawlatzai completed fine figures of 4-38.