Nabi puts Afghanistan on course

Mohammad Nabi, who plays in UAE domestic cricket and is familiar with the Dubai International Cricket Stadium pitch, cracked a brilliant unbeaten 52 to steer defending champions Afghanistan to a six-wicket victory over Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the first match of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20 Qualifiers on Tuesday. PNG found the Afghanistan attack too tough to handle. Opening bowler Dawlat Zadran picked up early wickets by having opener Tony Ura caught behind by Mohammad Shahzad for 2. Zadran also clean bowled Chris Amini for three runs. The biggest blow for PNG was the cheap dismissal of former England wicket keeper Geriant Jones. Zadran had Jones caught behind for a duck. Meanwhile, Nabi dismissed opener Asad Vala for 18. After four wickets were down for 48 runs in the 11th over, PNG could manage only 112 for 6 in the 20 overs. Afghanistan too got off to a bad start. Opener Noor Ali Zadran had to retire hurt without even facing a single ball, injuring himself while diving into his crease at the non-striker's end. Nabi steadied the innings through his 52 runs which came off 49 balls with three boundaries. Afghanistan won the match with six balls to spare. Nepal recorded an impressive 28-run win over Hong Kong to announce that they will be a strong contender to qualify for the Twenty20 World Cup. Despite posting only 130 for 6, Nepal managed to restrict Hong Kong to 102 for 9 in 20 overs at the Global Cricket Academy ground. The stars of Nepal's victory were their skipper Paras Khadka and pacer Chandra Sawad, who bagged four wickets for 24 runs. Khadka scored 68 runs off 62 balls with seven boundaries. After receiving the man of the match award, Khadka said: "The boys put up a really good show on the field. Chandra Sawad, playing his first match for the team, was absolutely fantastic with the new ball. To lead from the front is very important to me, but we still have six more very important matches to go and there is plenty of competition around. This is a very good start for us." Surprise defeat No one expected Italy to score such an easy win over Oman. Electing to bat first, Oman crashed before the bowling of off-break bowler Carl Sandri who took four wickets for just nine runs. Chasing a target of just 90 runs to win, former Australian opener Michael Di Venuto cracked an unbeaten 42 along with Peter Petricola who remained not out on 39. They won with six overs to spare. In the two matches held in Sharjah, Uganda scored a four-wicket victory over United States of America with four balls to spare. In another match, Denmark recorded an emphatic seven-wicket win over Bermuda with five balls to spare. Another exciting match of the day was between Scotland and Kenya at the Global Academy ground. After posting 178 for 7, Scotland bowled out Kenya for 164 runs. Skipper Gordon Drummond picked three vital wickets for 20 runs to ensure a 14-run victory. Kenya's Collins Obuya hit four fours and a six in his 36-ball 50 while Alex Obanda struck six fours and a six in his 17-ball 35, but their efforts went in vain.