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Afghanistan are closing in on playing their maiden Test, and are in talks with Zimbabwe for a full series later this year. The series is likely to be hosted by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). Afghanistan were conferred Test status by the ICC in June earlier this year.ESPNcricinfo understands the series is likely to comprise one Test, five ODIs and between two to three T20Is. With Afghanistan not in a position to host cricket at home, the ACB is looking at hosting the series either in India or the UAE.It is understood that Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) sent an e-mail to the ACB last week giving an in-principle nod. Both boards will take a final decision once ZC finalises the dates of the scheduled tri-series in Bangladesh, which, as per the ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP), is to be played between January-February next year. Ideally, ZC wants to play Afghanistan in the UAE and then travel to Bangladesh.If the plans materialize, it will give Afghanistan a significant boost, after they have hopped into the top echelons of international cricket since gaining ODI status in 2009.During this period, Afghanistan registered memorable results, including three consecutive limited-overs series victories against Zimbabwe before recently drawing the ODI series in West Indies in June.

Manchester City were dealt a huge blow at the end of last month as midfielder Ilkay Gundogan departed upon the expiry of his contract with the club.

The German has signed for Spanish giants Barcelona on a free transfer after captaining the Citizens to the treble last season.

This has left Pep Guardiola without one of his trusted midfield options heading into the 2023/24 campaign, which could tempt him into the transfer market in the coming weeks.

Mateo Kovacic has joined on a permanent deal from Chelsea but his six goals in 221 competitive matches for the Blues does not suggest that he has the goalscoring ability to adequately replace the ex-Borussia Dortmund ace.

Gundogan found the back of the net 11 times in all competitions for City last term, scoring crucial goals in vital games – including two in the FA Cup final against Manchester United.

Who could replace Ilkay Gundogan at Manchester City?

Guardiola could forget all about the now-Barcelona dynamo by securing the signing of Celta Vigo prodigy Gabri Veiga, who is a reported transfer target for the club.

He has a €40m (£34m) release clause in his contract with the Spanish side and City are said to be willing to match it, although they face competition from a host of European clubs – including Newcastle United, Liverpool, and Chelsea from the Premier League.

Like Gundogan, the 21-year-old magician, who was once hailed as "dangerous" by journalist Euan McTear, is a central midfielder with an eye for goal and his exploits in the final third could make him the dream replacement for City.

The Spain U21 international averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.96 across 36 LaLiga outings last term and contributed with 11 goals to go along with four assists from the middle of the park, which came after he managed nine goals in 31 outings for Celta B in the 2021/22 season.

Veiga, who predominantly plays as a number eight or ten, is not a seasoned campaigner who would come in with a guarantee of success but his impressive goal return from his position at the age of 21 suggests that the potential is there for him to be an excellent addition for Guardiola.

Gundogan averaged a goal every 5.06 matches on average throughout his City career (60 in 304) and the Celta Vigo starlet has averaged a strike every 3.35 league games on average for the first-team and reserve sides combined over the last two years (20 in 67).

Only Erling Haaland (36) scored more league goals for the Citizens than Veiga's tally of 11 in LaLiga, indicating that the Spanish maestro could provide the manager with an excellent goalscoring option from midfield, as the Germany international did during his time at The Etihad.

Lionel Messi has taken the United States by storm at Inter Miami, but that boom is bad news for shirt sellers that have seen business “destroyed”.

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Argentine icon now chasing American dreamMade a stunning impact in the StatesHistory being made on and off the fieldWHAT HAPPENED?

The Argentine icon, who is poised to land the eighth Ballon d’Or of his remarkable career, has made a stunning impact on and off the field in America. He helped Inter Miami to a historic League Cup triumph within weeks of his arrival, while ‘Messi 10’ jerseys became the biggest-selling shirt in history at the official MLS Store just 45 minutes after going on sale.

AdvertisementGettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Dave Zighelboim runs Miami-based Soccer Locker and has been selling soccer apparel for 42 years. He has never seen anything like the interest in Messi, but that is not doing his business any favours as punters have stopped buying jerseys of more established Premier League and La Liga clubs. Zighelboim has told the : “They’re not buying Barcelona, Manchester United and Man City right now; they’re coming from Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, Brazil, Colombia to buy Inter Miami jerseys. That’s been the biggest shocker. A person from El Salvador who couldn’t care less about Inter Miami four months ago, now with Messi, they all want the Messi jersey.

"Subsequently, that has destroyed my business of all the other jerseys. I’m not selling Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool. I’m not selling anything but Inter Miami and maybe Real Madrid. I had tons of product because the team [Inter Miami] was losing and their stuff wasn’t selling much. Then they signed Messi, and all hell broke loose."

WHAT THEY SAID

Brian Berklich – the chief marketing officer of soccer.com, a soccer specific retailer in the United States – is another to have witnessed the Messi effect first hand, with the South American superstar even eclipsing the furore sparked by his new boss in Florida – Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham. Berklich said: “Before that time, Inter Miami would not have been in our top 20, the top sellers were jerseys from the typical global powerhouses like Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG; so, for a U.S. club to land in that spot was groundbreaking. That top spot has never been held by a player actively playing for a U.S.-based club. When David Beckham came to MLS (2007) there was a lot of interest and excitement domestically, but what we’re seeing now with Messi … there’s no parallel in recent history.”

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While Messi was able to inspire Inter Miami to a first piece of major silverware shortly after his arrival, an untimely injury contributed to his side failing to reach the MLS play-offs. He will now rest and recuperate – taking in friendly outings and 2026 World Cup qualifiers – before his 2024 domestic campaign gets underway in the spring.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has said that the team needs to be better at “sucking up pressure” with the bat after their 159-run defeat against South Africa

Andrew McGlashan in Wellington25-Feb-2017Kane Williamson has said that New Zealand needed to be better at “sucking up pressure” with the bat and learn to play a smarter game after they crashed to a 159-run defeat in Wellington.Their innings lasted just 32.2 overs with Colin de Grandhomme’s unbeaten 34 the top score. The openers fell cheaply, and though Williamson and Ross Taylor tried to mount a recovery they were squeezed by some challenging bowling from Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius, whose combined nine overs in their opening spells claimed four wickets for 16 runs.”Restricting them to 270 was not a bad effort, but going into that second innings they were able to exploit the conditions and made life difficult,” Williamson said. “It probably showed that it was a tough score to chase, but as a batting unit, we want to be better at sucking up that pressure. Not only did they extract movement but they put the ball in the right area the whole time.”If we were smarter with the bat, soaked up pressure for a period and cashed in at the back end, we would have been far better off. A disappointing performance from us, but we do need to move on quickly.”Williamson highlighted that the drop-in surface at the Westpac also made it difficult to rotate strike, which helped bowlers build the pressure.”When you can use the pace of the ball you can rotate that strike, get momentum and the game can take a different shape,” he said. “They were able to bowl tightly then, when the ball does stop because there’s no block to work with, you can soak up pressure and feel like you’re not going anywhere.”That’s how Ross and I felt in those middle stages. It was similar to how they played, a lot of dots but if you go bang-bang, the run rate catches up. It wasn’t an easy surface but wasn’t a bad one either.”Either side of the solid batting performance in the second ODI in Christchurch, New Zealand have put in an indifferent top-order display in Hamilton, where they slipped to 82 for 4, and an awful one in Wellington. They will name their squad for the final two matches on Sunday morning with Martin Guptill returning from hamstring injuries, and will have to make a decision on Tom Latham following a third duck in six ODI innings. If he is dropped, New Zealand will need to make room for Luke Ronchi as wicketkeeper.While Guptill’s return is assured, Williamson was non-committal about Latham. An issue the selectors will have to consider is that Latham is one of the Test openers and he may be better off stepping away from the one-day side to try and get himself prepared for red-ball cricket.”Tom works hard like all of us to get more runs, he’s been unlucky with some dismissals, found some fielders, and that’s very much nature of the game,” Williamson said. “He’s up against a good attack as well.”

Australia’s selectors have made a host of changes for the Adelaide Test, with five men dropped after the loss to South Africa in Hobart

Daniel Brettig in Adelaide20-Nov-20164:23

We were given charter to revamp side – Hohns

Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb and Nic Maddinson have been thrust into the firing line as debut batsmen for an embattled Australia amid a drastically changed squad for the third Test against South Africa.The interim selection chairman Trevor Hohns also included Chadd Sayers as an Adelaide Oval specialist for the day/night match alongside Jackson Bird, with Matthew Wade to retake the gloves in a Test for the first time since the 2013 tour of India.Six changes from one Test squad to another is a figure not seen in Australian cricket history since 1984, when the same number was made between back-to-back Test series against the fearsome West Indies team that ultimately broke Kim Hughes’ captaincy.Joe Burns, Adam Voges (concussion), Callum Ferguson, Peter Nevill and Joe Mennie are the casualties of the innings defeat in Hobart that handed the series to South Africa and also triggered the resignation of the selection chairman Rod Marsh. Hohns spared a thought in particular for Ferguson, dropped after his debut Test.”We were given the charter to revamp the Test match side,” Hohns said. “Sure it may sound harsh but Callum like all of our players except for our bowlers went back to Sheffield Shield cricket, had their opportunity to press their claims for inclusion in this side. Some have, some haven’t and I would suggest that Callum is not discarded by any means. Doesn’t mean the end of the road and we would love Callum to continue to score a lot of runs and belt the door down and demand selection again.”There may have been another change too if not for a calf injury to the left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe, who had up until Saturday been favoured to oust the incumbent the spin bowler Nathan Lyon, who has struggled notably for wickets or impact so far this summer.”Stephen was in serious contention there’s no doubt,” Hohns said. “Nathan as we all know, has over 200 Test wickets, he’s our best off-spinner that we’ve had ever, so it might not be that he’s not taking wickets at the moment, but there’s no indication that he’s bowling poorly. I’m sure if he continues to bowl well as we say in cricket, the wheel always turns.”Hohns spoke strongly of Renshaw as an occupier of the crease, and of Handscomb and Maddinson as aggressive players in the classic Australian mould. Maddinson’s inclusion was somewhat surprising ahead of his fellow New South Welshman Kurtis Patterson, but he has been highly regarded for some time – even playing for Australia A in England in 2013 on the day Darren Lehmann was appointed coach in place of Mickey Arthur. Maddinson is also close to the captain Steven Smith, who will fancy his chances of extracting the left-hander’s best.”We see him as a player of enormous potential,” Hohns said of Maddinson. “He is definitely a game breaker and if we can get the best out of him at that level as I think we can, he could be a very, very important player for us down the track.”Form on the first two [Renshaw and Maddinson] were very important, there was always an area at the top of the order that was in contention. And Peter Handscomb getting 200, he’s been there and thereabouts for a good couple of years now. He’s always been spoken about in our selection meetings, hasn’t quite made the cut recently but now his form can’t be ignored.”Sometimes you do of course go with your gut, as they say. It’s all very well looking at statistics all the time but sometimes, particularly right now, we were asked to go with some players. And we decided to do that of course, because we obviously need to, go with some players that we thought could play for Australia and hold us in good stead for years to come.”Bird and Sayers were included primarily as support bowlers for Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Both had been chosen for the tour of New Zealand earlier this year. “Chadd’s a very good performer, and a very good performer in Adelaide and that’s why he’s been chosen for this Test match,” Hohns said. “He bowls very well here as we all know, it was only two Sheffield Shield games ago he took 11 or 12 wickets here. Hopefully, if he plays, he can continue to perform well.”Wade’s inclusion marks a significant change in philosophy for Australia, rewarding his batting ability and fighting demeanour ahead of the neater gloveman in Nevill. Lyon in particular will have to get used to the change. “[Nevill] very unlucky, there’s no doubt about that, but we consider Matthew Wade’s wicketkeeping has improved to the extent that we’ve gone in that direction,” Hohns said. “There’s no secret Matthew Wade’s batting is very, very good, in fact he’s scored hundreds in Test cricket.”He’s obviously seen as a tough competitor and that is what we’re looking for in our players now, and we want them to get out there now and have a fair crack at this and go forward with that. We don’t expect an immediate turnaround, but we’ve got a bit of faith in these guys now.”Squad David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Wade (wk), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers.

A round-up of the second day of Group A matches in the third round of the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2016Mehul Patel took his second five-wicket haul and career-best figures of 5 for 35 to help Gujarat snatch the first-innings lead against Railways in Lahli. Gujarat had been bowled out for 187, after which Railways were brought down to 63 for 7 as 17 wickets fell on the opening day. Railways were shot out for 124, before Gujarat responded strongly in the second innings, ending the day on 295 for 3 for an overall lead of 358.Railways resisted when play resumed, with Karn Sharma and Anureet Singh, the overnight batsmen, adding 52 for the eighth wicket. Mehul then dismissed Anureet for his fifth, before Rush Kalaria wrapped up the innings with two wickets in the 44th over. Karn scored 48 and Anureet made 27, finishing as two of only three batsmen to record double-digit scores.Priyank Panchal scored 101 and shared a second-wicket stand of 141 with Bhargav Merai (70) to sink Railways. Parthiv Patel, the Gujarat captain, and Manpreet Juneja added 98 unbeaten runs for the fourth wicket before stumps were drawn. Parthiv was not out on 39 and Juneja had made 59.Madhya Pradesh snuffed out two Mumbai wickets to end the second day in Raipur in a dominant position. After MP’s first innings ended on 445, Mumbai were reduced to 38 for 2, trailing by 407 runs.MP had ended the opening day on 239 for 2 with Rajat Patidar unbeaten on 83 and Devendra Bundela on 36. Patidar batted on and raised his century before being dismissed for 106, while Bundela scored 60. Patidar, Harpreet Singh and Bundela fell for the addition of 16 runs, before MP were buoyed by Shubham Sharma (83 not out) and Ankit Dane (47), and the duo’s sixth-wicket partnership of 102. Vijay Gohil and Tushar Deshpande took three wickets each.Mumbai lost Kaustubh Pawar and nightwatchman Balwinder Sandhu in their reply. Akhil Herwadkar played out 58 balls and stayed not out on 29.Uttar Pradesh piled on a mammoth 524 before taking a Tamil Nadu wicket late in the day at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala. Tamil Nadu ended the day on 34 for 1, behind by 490 runs.UP began the day on 207 for 1, with Samarth Singh having struck his maiden century in only his second first-class match. Samarth added 72 more to his overnight tally, before being dismissed 13 short of a double ton. Umang Sharma, who resumed on 36, added only 10 more to his overnight score, but UP were lifted by contributions all around, including half-centuries from Eklavya Dwivedi, the captain and wicketkeeper, who struck 60, and Saurabh Kumar (51). T Natarajan, the left-arm medium pacer, inflicted the bulk of the damage, taking 4 for 83.Sandeep Sharma added two wickets to his overnight tally to finish with 4 for 96 as Bengal’s first innings ended on 404 against Punjab at the Lohnu Cricket Ground in Bilaspur. Amit Kulia, Bengal’s new-ball bowler, then struck thrice in 16 overs as Punjab went into stumps on 168 for 4, behind Bengal by 236 runs.Bengal began the day on 332 for 5, with Pankaj Shaw unbeaten on 11 and Pragyan Ojha on 2. While Ojha fell on the same score in the 10th ball of the day, Shaw batted on and raised a half-century. He was the last man dismissed, for 55. Sandeep Sharma was supported by Vinay Choudhary, who took 3 for 75.Punjab lost Manan Vohra and Jinwanjot Singh early, while Yuvraj Singh, the captain, and Gurkeerat Singh got off to starts, but couldn’t convert them. Uday Kaul held up his end and scored an unbeaten 73, and in the company of Taruwar Kohli (26 not out) prevented further damage. Kulia finished with 3 for 44, while his opening partner Ashok Dinda took the other wicket.

Arsenal may be faced with a tough decision this summer as they continue to work on a new contract for William Saliba, journalist Charles Watts has claimed.

What's going on with Saliba and Arsenal?

The France international has performed well for Arsenal this season, but has just one year left on his contract at the club.

This summer is a crucial one for Saliba. Arsenal are in talks to extend his deal, but if they cannot reach an agreement, they may have to think about a sale of one of their most important players.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Watts highlighted Arsenal's potential concern over Saliba this summer.

"The clock is ticking when it comes to William Saliba, because you can't really end this summer without Saliba having signed a new contract. You can't go into the new season surely, with Saliba less than 12 months away from the end of his current deal," he stated.

"It's almost a bit of an elephant in the room type situation with Saliba, no one really wants to talk about it, but if this contract doesn't get sorted in the next six weeks or two months, maybe before everyone comes back for pre-season, then Arsenal are going to have a big decision to make because there's going to be lots of clubs sniffing around and thinking he's got 12 months left on his deal with this blatantly generational-almost quality defender, which he's proven in the Premier League this season, can we get him on the cheap?

"Bids are going to start coming in for William Saliba this summer if he hasn't signed a new deal and that's going to leave Arsenal with a bit of a decision to make."

What should Arsenal do with Saliba?

The 22-year-old has been sensational for Arsenal this season, helping them sustain a title challenge before picking up a long-term injury, and the Gunners capitulated without his presence in the back line.

Mikel Arteta described him as "superb" early on in the campaign, which was his first at the club following at number of loan spells away since he signed in 2019.

Tying him down on a long-term contract should be the priority for Arsenal, and with Bukayo Saka and Aaron Ramsdale reportedly agreeing new deals, there may be hope that the Gunners can hold on to their best talents to remain at the top level for years to come.

If no resolution can be reached in the summer, Arsenal may have to consider sizeable bids for the currently injured centre-back, but they may elect to keep him and attempt to tie him down throughout his final season.

If Saliba is to depart, it would be a huge loss for Arteta, and a top-quality replacement would have to be found.

Potential new Manchester United owner Sheikh Jassim is reportedly already eyeing an incredible move to sign Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar.

What’s the latest Man United transfer news involving Jassim and Neymar?

The deadline for third offers at Old Trafford has now passed, with Jassim making a final take-it-or-leave-it offer to take full control from the Glazers.

Jassim previously wanted a takeover 'done quickly' so he could help Erik ten Hag in the transfer market, and it looks as if the Qatari group are already identifying targets at Old Trafford, with Neymar potentially a huge statement signing.

Should Jassim’s offer prove to be successful, The Sun ‘understands that one of his first actions will be to make an incredible move to sign Neymar’.

They say that the forward ‘would be a marquee signing for the club to signal the new owners' intentions moving forward’, with PSG potentially open to offers due to the player’s struggles with injuries.

Setting the bar high…

Neymar is on a whopping salary of around €1bn-a-week (£950,000) in Paris, so Jassim would need to show his financial power to bring the Brazilian to Manchester. He's also a "huge fan" of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham, so appears to be hitting the bar high when it comes to possible additions to the squad.

The 31-year-old has scored 293 goals and has provided 188 assists during his 493-game club career for Santos, Barcelona and PSG, while he has also netted 77 times for his country, showing the quality he could bring to England.

Mark Goldbridge wasn't thrilled after hearing Neymar could be a target for the Red Devils, though, but he could be happier if it is Jassim taking over at United instead of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, with The United Stand presenter hitting out at the possibility of Ratcliffe keeping the Glazers involved at Old Trafford.

Sixteen-year-old batsman Jason Sangha has become the youngest player ever contracted by New South Wales after he was handed a rookie deal for the 2016-17 season

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Apr-2016Sixteen-year-old batsman Jason Sangha has become the youngest player ever contracted by New South Wales after he was handed a rookie deal for the 2016-17 season. The Blues have finalised their squad list for next summer and another teenager, the 18-year-old spinner Arjun Nair, who last season made his state debut aged 17, has received a full contract.Wicketkeeper-batsman Jay Lenton and top-order batsman Ryan Gibson have earned full contracts, while offspinner Chris Green and fast bowler Liam Hatcher have been handed rookie deals. Opening batsman Daniel Solway, who held a rookie contract last season, has missed out on this year’s list.The inclusion of Sangha came after he enjoyed a meteoric rise through the junior ranks last summer, starting the season in the New South Wales Under-15 Schoolboys team before also being picked in the Cricket Australia Invitation sides for both the Under-17 and Under-19 National Championships.A batsman from Newcastle, Sangha was also picked in Australia’s Under-19 team in January and scored 102 on Youth ODI debut against Pakistan in Dubai. He will juggle his training with the Blues and his Year 11 high-school commitments throughout the rest of 2016.”New South Wales has a long tradition of backing young talent and we are delighted to be able to bring Jason Sangha, Arjun Nair, Liam Hatcher and Chris Green into the Blues squad this summer,” Andrew Jones, the Cricket New South Wales CEO, said.”Along with Mickey Edwards, Jonte Pattison and Henry Thornton, these rookies have a tremendous amount of potential and we look forward to seeing them develop under the guidance of the Blues coaching staff and senior players.”The Blues had a solid summer in 2015-16, winning the Matador BBQs One-Day Cup and achieving the best win-loss record in the Sheffield Shield. The squad also supplied the majority of the Australian Test team. Our challenge now is to build on this momentum, to defend the Matador Cup and win the Sheffield Shield.”New South Wales squad Sean Abbott, Doug Bollinger, Ryan Carters, Harry Conway, Trent Copeland, Ed Cowan, Pat Cummins (Cricket Australia contract), Ben Dwarshuis, Ryan Gibson, Josh Hazlewood (CA), Moises Henriques, Daniel Hughes, Josh Lalor, Nick Larkin, Jay Lenton, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Arjun Nair, Peter Nevill (CA), Steve O’Keefe, Kurtis Patterson, Ben Rohrer, Gurinder Sandhu, Steven Smith (CA), Will Somerville, Mitchell Starc (CA), David Warner (CA).
Rookies Mickey Edwards, Chris Green, Liam Hatcher, Jonte Pattison, Jason Sangha, Henry Thornton.

An unconvincing South Africa survived a spirited Afghanistan chase to defend a 200-plus score and get their World Twenty20 campaign back on track

The Report by Firdose Moonda20-Mar-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details 4:07

Chappell: South Africa have a few bowling concerns

An unconvincing South Africa survived a spirited Afghanistan chase to defend a 200-plus score and get their World Twenty20 campaign back on track. In the absence of Dale Steyn, who was left out for tactical reasons, Chris Morris and Imran Tahir squeezed through the middle period to ensure AB de Villiers’ quickfire 64 was not in vain.Afghanistan’s second loss means their chances of progressing to the knockouts are all but over, but they have showed their promise. They kept up with the required run-rate for the first half of their innings and were ahead of where South Africa were at the same stage in their knock, but lost too many wickets to keep going. Afghanistan also did not have a 17th over like South Africa did; de Villiers took 29 runs off Rashid Khan, which ended up being the major difference between the two sides.In the end, South Africa will be relieved that they were able to defend their total, but disappointed that the margin of victory was not bigger. They tightened up on their discipline in the field but still gave away more extras than their opposition – six wides compared to two from Afghanistan – and did not show the kind of killer instinct that they will need later in the tournament.They also suffered an injury concern. JP Duminy left the field four balls into Afghanistan’s chase with a hamstring strain and was unable to take any further part in the match. Duminy has only just found form again and his availability will be important for the rest of the World T20.As the same venue where they posted 229 batting first on Friday night, South Africa chose to set a target again. Quinton de Kock picked up from where he left off two days ago and dominated the opening passages of play. De Kock faced all but one delivery in the first two overs and found the boundary five times. Hashim Amla may have wanted to catch up but after one four, gifted a catch to Asghar Stanikzai at mid-off.South Africa held de Villiers back and sent in Faf du Plessis at No.3. The strategy worked. Du Plessis took on the spin from Mohammad Nabi while de Kock continued to attack in the Powerplay. South Africa finished it on 66 for 1 and 60 of those runs came in boundaries.When the fielding restrictions were lifted, Rashid put the brakes on with the first boundary-less over of the innings, but du Plessis did not want things to slow down too much. He picked up the pace before being run-out and de Villiers was soon at the crease.Afghanistan were not under threat immediately while de Villiers settled in and de Kock nicked off. After conceding just 19 runs in three overs after the halfway stage of the South African innings, Afghanistan might have been hopeful of pulling South Africa even further back. But Duminy and de Villiers were wise to the need to accelerate and began to push for runs.De Villiers should have been caught for 27 when he offered Samiullah Shenwari a return catch but he could not hold on his follow through and Rashid suffered most. He was torn apart in his final over, when de Villiers went over midwicket and down the ground five times. The result? Six, four, six, six and six. South Africa’s total went meandering to mighty and 200-plus was within sight. It was up to David Miller to take them there after de Villiers was dismissed. Twenty runs off the final over ensured South Africa had a second straight 200-plus score.South Africa would have felt fairly safe with 209 on the board, especially as Afghanistan two previous scores over 210 were only achieved batting first, but Mohammad Shahzad threatened to gun down that total all by himself. He began fearlessly against Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Abbott and plundered 32 runs off the first two overs. His partner Noor Ali Zadran did not face a ball until the third over and then, it was only to return the strike to Shahzad.Morris was brought on in the fourth over and showed improvement from previous performances. He started by holding his length back but then steamed in with a delivery just under 150kph – full and straightening – which splayed Shahzad’s stumps.Asghar Stanikzai and was caught behind in Morris’ next over but Gulbadin Naib kept Afghanistan in it and targeted David Wiese, South Africa’s replacement for Steyn. Afghanistan reached 10 overs on 103 for 2, 11 runs ahead of where South Africa were at the same stage. Then, Gulbadin was caught behind, Noor Ali was stumped, and Afghanistan were wobbling, still needing 100 runs off eight overs. Their chase was over then and South Africa had the chance to drill home an advantage.Instead, they allowed Afghanistan to drag it out. Abbott and Morris got the yorker right more often than they did in previous matches and Rabada managed one at the end, but South Africa will not feel it was a complete performance by any means.