Zimbabwe v Afghanistan, 2014

At Harare (Country Club), August 2-3, 2014. Zimbabwe A won by eight wickets. ‡Afghanistan 169 (C. Musoko 3-39, N. Madziva 3-40) and 99 (N. Mushangwe 4-20); Zimbabwe A 157 (Sharafuddin Ashraf 5-33) and 112-2. First-class debuts: Abdullah Adil, Mohammad Mujtaba, Nasir Ahmadzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf. Zimbabwe changed their entire seam attack and hit back with a win inside two days. After Ashraf surprisingly chose to bat, the two first innings followed a familiar pattern, with Vermeulen (36) - who also took four catches - and Mutumbami (44) again coping better than most. This time, there was no second-innings resurgence from Afghanistan, and their challenge declined in ugly fashion when the non-striker Sharafuddin Ashraf let out a huge bellow just as wicketkeeper Regis Chakabva attempted to catch Nasir Ahmadzai off Cuthbert Musoko; the chance went down, but umpires Iknow Chabi and Jeremiah Matibiri decided there was a case for obstructing the field, and gave Nasir, the striker, out in accordance with Law 37. He was the third first-class debutant to be given out under this law - after Qaiser Khan (for Dera Ismail Khan v Railways, 1964-65) and Arshad Ali (Sukkur v Quetta, 1983-84). Nasir was one of four men out with the total on 99; the other three fell to leg-spinner Natsai Mushangwe. Vermeulen's 47* steered the Zimbabweans to their modest target and rubber-stamped his place against South Africa, more than ten years after his previous Test.