AFGHANISTAN proved they have Ireland’s number in Twenty20 cricket, when they defeated the Irish men by five wickets in their lone warm-up match ahead of the 2010 International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty20 tournament at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, yesterday. They won the toss and asked Ireland, who lost to New Zealand the previous day, to take first strike in hazy conditions and thanks to the bowling of Dawlat Ahmadzai who took 4-15 from his four overs, were held to (133-9) off their 20 overs.
Afghanistan then replied with 135-5 from 19.3 overs, thanks to the batting of Mohammad Asgar who made an entertaining and unbeaten 40 and Mohammad Nabi (27), with the two adding 66 for the fifth wicket.
It was déjà vu for the Irish who lost their first wicket off the second ball of their innings, similar to their game against the Black Caps, with the dangerous William Porterfield (0) going to a brilliant catch taken by Noor Ali Zadran at backward square leg off Ahmadzai.
The 22-year-old Ahmadzai, who became the first Afghanistan player to take five wickets in a first class match with his 5-22 against the same opponents in the ICC Intercontinental Cup in January this year, removed the first four Irish batsmen to reduce them to 30-4 after 7 overs.
Paul Sterling (6) tickled Ahmadzai to fine leg for four, but watched as the bowler held a low return catch on his follow through to his right, while Alex Cusack (6) and Kevin O’Brien (3) were sent to the cool comforts of the pavilion with the compliments of Ahmadzai.
When Niall O’Brien (14) who had earlier struck Zadran for four lost his wicket to off-spinner Mohammad Nabi in the eighth over,  Ireland were shakily placed on 33-5, before some lusty hitting by wicketkeeper Garth Wilson (32) and John Mooney (42), restored order to the Irish batting.
Back-to-back fours by Wilson off  Samiullah Shinwari, followed by three sixes struck by Mooney off Nabi and Afghanistan skipper Nowroz Mangal who was struck for two of the maximums respectively, saw a fightback by Ireland as the pair added  79 for the sixth wicket.
The demise of Wilson, who was bowled by Shinwari at 111-6 in the 17th over, along with the quick removal of Mooney for an entertaining innings which contained three sixes and two fours, pegged back Ireland who were reduced to 133-9 at the end of their 20 overs, with Hamid Hassan offering support to Ahmadzai, with his 2-30 from three overs.
Afghanistan got a sound reply when Ali and Karim Sadiq who both made 14, added 18 for the first wicket before both Ali and Mohammed Shazad (1) were dismissed by Cusack (1-12) and Trent Johnson (1-14) to leave their team on 26-2.
Sadiq was next to go, caught by Cusack off left-arm spinner George Dockrell (2-23) to leave Afghanistan on 50-3 and when skipper Nowroz Mangal was stumped by Gary Wilson off Dockrell for a fighting 27 which included two sixes struck off Dockrell, Afghanistan were 60-4 in the 13th over of their innings.
Asgar joined forces with Nabi and they took the fight back to the team they defeated back in January to book their place in this prestigious event, with Asgar hitting two sixes off Gary Kidd and Kevin O’Brien respectively.
At the other end, the 25-year-old Nabi, who was bent on picking up the singles and leaving the big hitting to Asgar, struck Kidd for a six over wide long on, followed by back-to-back fours off Sterling and another six off Andre Botha.
Victory was a mere two runs away for Afghanistan, when Nabi holed out to Nigel Jones at long on off Cusack from the final delivery of the 19th over, but Asgar and Ahmadzai, who was unbeaten on 1, ensured that was the last success for Ireland as they saw their team, who will face India in their first round clash, to a comfortable victory.
Cusack and Dockrell picked up two wickets each for 12 and 23 runs respectively for Ireland, who suffered their second defeat in the warm-up matches, following their 40-run loss to New Zealand the previous day at the same venue.