Zimbabwe’s Graeme Cremer claimed five wickets but it was Amir Hamza who stole the show as the latter helped Afghanistan seal a 49-run win in the first ODI, on Friday.

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At Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Cremer was lethal with the ball finishing with figures of 5-20 and despite Noor Ali Zadran’s half-century, Afghanistan were all out for 131 in the 39th over.

What seemed like an easy chase for Zimbabwe, turned into a rout as they never really got going and their batsmen struggled at the crease. By the sixth over, they were three down for just 12 runs, much to the delight of a packed crowd of Afghanistan supporters.

With the pitch favouring the bowlers, captain Elton Chigumbura top-scored with 28 but his teammates had no answer to left-arm spinner Hamza as Zimbabwe were eventually bowled out for 82.

Earlier, Zadran was the stand-out batsman for Afghanistan, smashing eight boundaries in his 63-run knock. He was unable to get much support at the crease with wickets falling at regular intervals and only Nabi (17) and Najibullah Zadran (16) reached double figures.

It was exactly the same for Zimbabwe as Peter Moor (21) and an unbeaten 12 from Cremer joined Chigumbura as the three batsmen to reach double digits.