CricketEurope reports:

IRELAND slid to a 30-run loss to Afghanistan in their 1st ODI in Delhi despite the best efforts of skipper William Porterfield.

The 32 year-old struck his 9th ODI century to put Ireland in a strong position as they replied to the Afghanistan total of 292.

Porterfield struck 18 boundaries as he top scored with 119 from just 98 deliveries, sharing a 2nd wicket stand of 157 with Paul Stirling (68).

The pair had come together after the early loss of Ed Joyce (4) and their partnership looked to be guiding the Boys In Green to a morale boosting win.

However four wickets apiece for Rashid Khan (4-48) and Dawlat Zadran (4-53) sparked a collapse which saw the Irish falter from 206 for 2 to 262 all out - losing 8 wickets for 56 runs.

Earlier a solid batting effort from Afghanistan led by half centuries from Rahmat Shah (78) and Noor Ali Zadran (51) saw them post 292 for 7.

Kevin O'Brien (3-47) was the most successful of the Irish attack, with Tim Murtagh (1-55), George Dockrell (1-68) and Peter Chase (1-69) the other wicket takers.

Porterfield collected the Man-of-the-Match accolade for his highest ODI score, but it meant little to him given the result.

"It's pretty hard to take be honest," said Porterfield. "We set ourselves up in a great position with the partnership between myself and Paul Stirling but we've let ourselves down.

"It's not too often in ODI's that you get that far ahead of the game and to let it slip is pretty frustrating.

"We've played some excellent cricket at times but it's small margins. All credit to Afghanistan with how they fought back. We'll look at what went wrong and hopefully turn it around in the next game on Friday."

The teams meet in the 2nd ODO on Friday 17 March at the same venue.

CricketEurope