South Africa men’s Cricket national team, The Proteas, were made to eat the humble pie as Afghanistan battled their way to a six-wicket win over in the opening One-Day International (ODI) held in Sharjah on Wednesday after skittling the Proteas for just 106.

Though the African team managed to avoid their lowest ever score in an ODI, but some fine bowling from Afghan opening bowlers, Fazalhaq Farooqi, who took 4-35, and AM Ghazanfar, 3-20, ensured that the Asian team’s batters would have a comfortable chase.

A report on the match states that in the event, the host lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz to the third ball of the innings, caught at third man off Lungi Ngidi, and when Rahmat Shah was leg before to Bjorn Fortuin the Afghans were wobbling at 15-2.

“Fortuin also removed Riaz Hassan for 16 while Aiden Markram, standing in as captain for the sick Temba Bavuma, dismissed Hashmatullah Shahidi.

“However, Azmatullah Omarzai (25 not out) and Gulbadin Naib, 34 off 27 balls, saw them home in 26 overs. After Markram elected to bat first after winning the toss, Reeza Hendricks and Tony de Zorzi added 17 for the first wicket before left-arm quick Farooqi bowled Hendricks for 9 to spark a dramatic collapse which saw South Africa slump to 36-7.

‘Farooqi added the wickets of Markram (2) and de Zorzi (11) to his tally while Ghazanfar accounted for Tristan Stubbs and Jason Smith, making his ODI debut, for ducks and Kyle Verreynne for 10.

“As if South Africa did not already have enough problems, Andile Phehlukwayo went walkabout as Ghazanfar was appealing for leg before, leaving Nabi to run him out.

“With only 10 of the 50 overs bowled, it looked as though South Africa’s record lowest ODI score of 69, made against Australia in Sydney in 1993, would be in danger.

‘An eighth-wicket partnership of 39 between Wiaan Mulder and Fortuin, however, saw them past the danger and threatened to rebuild the innings.’

The Super Eagles of Nigeria has maintained its 39th position in the latest FIFA Coca-Cola Men’s Rankings released by the world football governing body for the month of September.

Though the Nigerian men’s national team’s ranking did not change from last month, they, however, remained above fierce rivals Ghana, South Africa, Cameroon and Algeria in the ranking released on Thursday.

The three-time African champions earned four points from their opening 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers earlier in the month, with a 3-0 victory over Benin at home and a goalless draw against Rwanda.

The new FIFA ranking has also seen some African teams move up some places in their ranking, with Algeria, Congo, and Burkina Faso taking some steps up the table.

Cameroon dropped two places to 53 on the list while South Africa dropped to 59 and Ghana going down to an abysmal 70 having dropped two and six places, respectively.

Algeria (41) moved five places further on the list and are two places behind Nigeria, while Congo (58) and Burkina Faso (63) have moved two and four places, respectively.

The Super Eagles will be hoping that the recent performance will be taken into consideration in the next Fifa ranking list.

Nigeria dropped from 38th position to 39th place on the FIFA ranking a few months ago following several poor performances having failed to win their last four qualifying games under former head coaches Jose Peseiro and Findi Geroge.

However, they have maintained the 39th place in the world ranking following the newly released list by FIFA.