South Africa are scheduled to travel to the UAE for a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan in Sharjah in September. This will be a first-ever bilateral series between the two countries and for Afghanistan, it will be a second bilateral assignment in the month of September following a first-ever Test match against New Zealand in the second week. The assignments are definitely a causal effect of Afghanistan's T20 World Cup heroics where the Asian side got to the semi-finals stage for the first time in an ICC event.
"Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) are pleased to announce a historic three-match One-Day International (ODI) series between the Proteas Men and Afghanistan from 18 - 22 September in the United Arab Emirates," CSA said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter). "The ODI series is the first-ever bilateral series between the two sides with all three matches set to be hosted by ACB at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium."
Schedule
1st ODI - Wednesday, 18 September
2nd ODI - Friday, 20 September
3rd ODI - Sunday, 22 September
All three matches will take place at the Sharjah Cricket Ground in Sharjah.
“The recent ICC meeting was quite productive for us. Apart from confirming dates for the one-off Test match against New Zealand, we reached an agreement with Cricket South Africa for a series of three ODIs in September," ACB chairman Mirwaif Ashraf said.
"These fixtures were not initially part of our FTP. Still, based on our productive negotiations with our counterparts at Cricket South Africa, we concluded that we will host the Proteas for an ODI series in September. They are an excellent team, and we are eagerly looking forward to hosting them and playing them regularly in the future," he added.
South Africa have a packed schedule starting August 7 where they play West Indies in a two-match Test series followed by three T20Is. In September, immediately after the Afghanistan ODI series, the Proteas play a couple of T20Is against Ireland, followed by three ODIs as they build up towards the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
South Africa beat Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup semi-final in Trinidad but lost to India in the final as their search for an ICC World Cup trophy continued.
