Najibullah marks Afghanistan improvement

"He can't block the ball to save his life." That was Andy Moles' assessment of Najibullah Zadran during the match against Sri Lanka in Dunedin. As the coach uttered those words, Najibullah opened his account with a six. Shortly after the interview finished he slotted one straight up in the air and was caught.

Plenty of things about the job Moles has taken will cause him to take a deep breath, but one of his constant demands of his players is just to see improvement. He is not expecting miracles. On that scale, Najibullah will have emerged from the heavy defeat against New Zealand in considerable credit.

Walking in at 59 for 6 he added 86 for the seventh wicket with Samiullah Shenwari with a run-a-ball 56. It was an innings of impressive selectivity apart from one occasion when he got carried away having deposited Tim Southee onto the roof at deep square-leg and tried to repeat the stroke next ball, only to be reprieved by Martin Guptill. Contrary, though, to Moles' earlier view that was more an exception than a rule.

He has fantastically fast hands, as was evident when he was picking off early boundaries against Adam Milne and later put Southee into the stands for a second time. "There's a lot of respect around the Afghanistan team, they are good players and have a nicely balanced line-up which you saw today by the way they were able to counterattack," Daniel Vettori said.

Shenwari has previously shown his qualities when he guided his side to the brink of victory from an almost hopeless position against Scotland. This innings, against a much superior attack, also included a nasty blow to the helmet when he was facing Corey Anderson. It left a dent in the helmet and Shenwari needed treatment an over later when the effects of the hit became apparent. However, he later fielded and bowled without any apparent unease.

The innings of Shenwari and Najibullah should have been a lesson to the rest of the Afghanistan top order. Clearly they were expected to be out-classed, but there were some soft dismissals on display. Facing Daniel Vettori in the third over perhaps was too much of a relief after the challenges faced at the WACA a few days ago. They are not the first side to be defeated by a lack of turn from Vettori, but Narwoz Mangal's cut and Mohammad Nabi's dab to slip belied their experience.

"The way Najibullah and Shenwari played was quite good and maybe the top order will learn from that and take responsibility," Nabi said. "Najibullah is an aggressive player, but we didn't give him a big platform. He has been under pressure in every match after losing early wickets. If we had scored 270 it could have been a different match.

"When you play against big teams it's completely different than against the Associate teams. It's quite difficult to adjust against world-class bowlers both quicks and spinners. New Zealand bowled brilliantly."

Afghanistan's attack has earned many plaudits over the last few weeks, but the batting will not leave with the same feel-good factor. They were 97 for 7 against Scotland before the tremendous recovery, while their completed innings have been 162, 232, 142 and in this match, 186. However, their opposition have been impressed by the overall package.

"I look at Afghanistan and think that's the beginning of a very good team," Vettori said. "The way they are balanced, the firepower all through their batting order and their bowling line-up, especially the three fast bowlers, are impressive. Having three guys over 140 will give you a chance to win games at the top-tier level."

For Nabi, as he and his team prepared for another journey back to Australia for their final game in Sydney, there was one thought keeping him hopeful. "England are also in trouble at the World Cup and we will try our hardest."