Napier, New Zealand: Daniel Vettori became the 12th player and the first New Zealander to take 300 wickets in one-day internationals as the hosts bowled out Afghanistan for 186 in their Cricket World Cup match at McLean Park on Sunday.
Left-arm spinner Vettori needed two wickets for the milestone and claimed a wicket with his first ball when he removed Usman Ghani as Afghanistan began poorly after winning the toss.
Vettori (4-18) reached 300 when he bowled Nawroz Mangal for 27. He then dismissed Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi (6) and wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai (0) with consecutive deliveries in the 20th over as Afghanistan slipped to 59-6. New Zealand crowded seven fieldsmen around the bat as Vettori bowled the potential hat-trick delivery but Najibullah Zadran defended it safely.
Trent Boult supported Vettori, taking 3-34 and joining teammate Tim Southee as the leading wicket-taker at this World Cup with 13 dismissals. Vettori is third with 12 as New Zealand bowlers occupy the first three placings on the wicket-taking list.
Afghanistan was playing its third match in a week in which it has traveled almost 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles) — from Dunedin to Perth and then to Napier — and was coming off a 275-run loss to Australia.
The frayed confidence from that game was evident as it lost opener Javed Ahmadi, lbw to Trent Boult, to only the ninth ball of its innings and Ghani, to Vettori, five balls later which it was 6-2. Boult then dismissed Asghar Stanikzai (9) in the ninth over, and Vettori's quick three wickets put Afghanistan at strong risk of a sub-100 score.
But Samiullah Shenwari, Afghanistan's most consistent batsman, combined in an 86-run partnership with the eighth man in, Najibullah, to halt the decline.
Shenwari played the disciplined sheet-anchor role as Najibullah went for his shots, lacing seven fours and two sixes. He was finally out for 56 off as many balls.
Corey Anderson hit Shenwari in the back of the helmet which a bouncer. He was momentarily stunned and later called for medical assistance but continued undeterred. His was the ninth wicket to fall, having made 54 off 110 balls.
