ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2020

11 Afghanistan in 2019/20 Afghanistan’s fledgling Test career may not comprise enough Tests as yet to warrant an official ICC ranking, but it is off to a respectable start. The inaugural Test, back in 2018, ended in a crushing two-day defeat at the hands of India; but the three subsequent games, one in 2018/19 and two this season, have resulted in two wins against one defeat. The win in 2018/19 maybe did not count for so much since it was against fellow-neophytes Ireland; but 2019/20 began in fine style at Chittagong with a well-merited 224-run win against Bangladesh, in which the hosts found themselves comprehensively outspun by Rashid Khan as he celebrated becoming the youngest-ever Test captain by claiming 11-114. Afghanistan’s next Test engagement, however, saw them at ‘home’ (actually on neutral territory in India) against West Indies, opponents who are far from being the force they once were but were nevertheless good enough to claim a convincing nine-wicket win. So Afghanistan’s first forays into Test cricket have resulted in two wins and two defeats, certainly sufficient to hold out some grounds for cautious optimism. Turning to the domestic first-class season, only 11 matches were played as the Ahmad Shah Abdali Tournament 2019 was brought to its conclusion. This means that last year’s Annual was incorrect in assuming that the 15 matches played in 2018/19 constituted the entire Tournament; and the table on page 12 last year, described as ‘final’, was in fact only interim. When the competition resumed in 2019/20, one of the sides, Kabul, had dropped out; of the others, Speen Ghar confirmed their superiority, retaining by a wide margin the title they had claimed by only a single point in 2018. Because the Afghan authorities generally announce tournaments only a few days before they begin, it is not known whether there were any plans to commence the 2020 Tournament later in the 2019/20 season; if there were, they were scuppered by the coronavirus. Munir Ahmad of Boost scored 595 runs at an average of 85.00. Unsurprisingly, in such a short season, no one else accrued 500 runs, although Fazal Niazal (Mis Ainak) came close with 483 at 80.50. Of the bowlers, Fareed Ahmad of Speen Ghar claimed most wickets, 19 at 18.31. (JCB)  Ahmad Shah Abdali Four-Day Tournament 2019: Final table P W WLF L LWF DWF DLF ND A Pts 20 14 0 6 13 7 10 10 1 Speen Ghar Region 9 4 0 0 0 3 1 1 0 136 2 Amo Region 9 3 0 2 0 1 3 0 0 94 3 Mis Ainak Region 9 2 0 3 0 2 1 1 0 83 4 Boost Region 9 1 1 3 0 2 2 0 0 74 5 Kabul Region 5 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 57 6 Band-e-Amir Region 9 1 0 4 1 1 1 0 1 56