Today at the U19 World Cup: Wrist-spin sinks hosts to nightmare start, but don't dare call it an upset

XAVIER VOIGT-HILL: In the Kimberley curtain-raiser, South Africa were thoroughly outclassed by a flawless Afghanistan side patently capable of going all the way

• Visit our Under-19 World Cup hub
• All you need to know for this year's tournament

Every World Cup is full of 'I was there' moments, and not even three overs had gone by in this year's Under-19 edition before Afghanistan left-armer Fazal Haq was being anointed by commentators as the prodigious star of the future.

In fairness, at that point it was hard to contest. Fazal had opened the tournament by seizing on any ounce of nerves in the South Africa openers with intoxicating swing and precision, rearranging the stumps of Andrew Louw and Jonathan Bird – who had been perhaps unwittingly put out like lambs to the slaughter by skipper Bryce Parsons – for a grand total of two runs from 13 balls between them.

It is an unspoken rule that tournament curtain-raisers like this simply have to be a compelling proposition, offering enough to spark joy and imagination in home fans without being such imbalanced contests that everyone else ends up switching off. Individual moments of magic can set the tone for some of sport's greatest tales: just think of that Ben Stokes catch at the Oval last summer, or Kotaro Matsushima's hat-trick for Japan when they kicked off their first home Rugby World Cup four months later.

Euphoria and intensity are the fundamentals of the game, though South Africa's complete lack of such qualities at Kimberley's Diamond Oval allowed Afghanistan to run riot with a faultless display, easing to a seven-wicket win in the Group D opener with 150 balls to spare. While an initially cunning Fazal had set the wheels in motion (2-43) before losing his radar a tad as the Kookaburra ball lost its sheen, it was the wrist-spin combination of Shafiqullah Ghafari (6-15) and Noor Ahmad (2-44) that had the Proteas reeling the second captain Farhan Zakhail turned away from his seamers. 

^{Leg-spinner Shafiqullah Ghafari bamboozled South Africa's batsmen in his haul of 6-15}

Parsons himself had looked mostly settled after coming in at first drop, carving a fine 40 under the gaze of fellow King Edward VII School alumnus Graeme Smith and taking 20 off the final over of the opening powerplay, as Abdul Rahman's attempts at deceptive pace variations proved instead to be the solitary blip on an otherwise dominant performance for the visitors.

As soon as fielding restrictions were lifted, on came Noor – a 15-year-old left-armer who has already gathered IPL attention – and before long off went Parsons, who became the first of the spinners' six victims in a 10 over spell to consign South Africa's middle-order to an embarrassing total.

The captain would admit as much post-game, acknowledging his side had no idea how to pick the googlies and variations, and lamenting their collective inability to stick around. Just three men reached double-figures, with a last ditch cameo of 38 from 23 by Gerald Coetzee the only assured display after Luke Beaufort – Parsons' more tentative partner during a third-wicket stand of 55 – had eventually perished with a shocking pull to a Noor half-tracker for 25. 

The rest of the damage was done by an impressive Shafiqullah, whose figures were the country's finest in their six trips to the tournament thus far. A more conventional leg-spin option than Noor, the 18-year-old maintained immense control and composure throughout, only once requiring the finger of approval from umpire Wayne Knights to send a batsman on his way. Rahmanullah chipped in too with an excellent slip effort to remove Tiaan van Vuuren for five, and Coetzee – last man out, clean bowled in a rare attempt at defending – was the only man to thank for South Africa even setting a target of three figures.

^{Imran Mir led the measured chase, top-scoring with 57}

Even though Afghanistan slipped to 44 all out against India in a warm-up fixture last week, realistically 130 was never going to prove an obstacle here. Ibrahim Zadran, who pottered for a steady 52, is the one member of the side to have featured in 2018's run to a surprise fourth-place finish. This time around, he is the only player in the tournament who already has a full Test cap, and he has more professional List A games under his belt than the South Africa XI combined.

Imran Mir, his partner in crime, could arguably have been the most impressive player of the day if he had more of a chance to stick around. There were nine boundaries and several beautiful extra cover drives in his 48-ball top score of 57 – an innings eventually cut off when van Vuuren was belatedly introduced with the required run rate already under one per over.

Coetzee proved unable to carry on where he left off with five New Zealand wickets to seal fifth in the 2018 tournament; instead, three of his first four deliveries were called wide, giving Afghanistan's chase a generous kickstart it really didn't need. Imran and Ibrahim were among the three wickets that did ultimately fall, but the scalps were inconsequential as Andy Moles' squad strode home with precisely half an innings to spare.

Calling this result a giant-killing display or some other sort of shock result would be beyond unfair to Afghanistan, who continue to prove themselves an accomplished Full Member side with an astonishing supply of youth talent. Of course, more might well have been expected of South Africa – Aiden Markram, captain of the title-winning 2014 side and Protea regular, was on commentary duty at the ground as a clear reminder of what the rainbow nation's pipeline can and perhaps should be doing – but this is nothing new. Lawrence Mahatlane has run the country's under-19 programme since shortly after Markram and Kagiso Rabada's 2014 tournament, but they have now won just four of their 17 Youth ODI contests since touring England in the summer of 2018.

The sides may have been separated by just one place in the last tournament, however the gulf between them in 2020 was on show for all to see on youth cricket's biggest stage today. With Group D rounded out by Canada and the United Arab Emirates, it may be the only pool without a third Full Member nation but competition will remain fierce, as the two sides eased undefeated through the qualification processes and arrive buoyed by strong performances in warm-up fixtures and, in the UAE's case, full ODI action.

If anything, what Afghanistan's win delivers is quite the overwhelming statement of intent to go one round better than last time. For South Africa, fading memories of 2014 may have to suffice.

^{Top two images: ICC / Getty}