SHARJAH: Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit a superb century before leg-spin magician Rashid Khan marked his 26th birthday by taking five wickets as Afghanistan registered another emphatic victory over South Africa on Friday, beating them by 177 runs in the second One-day International to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series in Sharjah. Gurbaz hit 105 as Afghanistan made 311-4 before the Proteas lost nine wickets for 61 runs to be skittled out for just 134 in the 35th over. It was the seventh century in the 22-year-old’s Gurbaz’s ODI career and included 10 fours and three sixes. “I had a hamstring injury but I try my best to stay on the ground and do my best for the team,” said man-of-the-match Rashid after taking 5-19. “It was a great opportunity for us to win the series against a big team, so I had to stay till the end.” Two days after winning the first ODI by six wickets, Afghanistan made a bright start as the openers capitalised on winning the toss, putting the South African attack to the sword from the start as the flat track offered little for the bowlers to work with. Gurbaz became Afghanistan’s most prolific ODI centurion while an unbeaten 86 from Azmatullah Omarzai ensured they posted an imposing target. Gurbaz and Riaz Hassan added 88 for the first wicket before Aiden Markram had Hassan leg before for 29. That brought in Rahmat Shah (50) who shared a 101-run partnership with Gurbaz. Gurbaz kept the scoreboard consistently ticking over, taking 56 balls to reach his half century, before spending a couple of overs nervously approaching his ton, finally sweeping behind square leg to go to three figures. The opener fell shortly after reaching his milestone, bowled by Nandre Burger. The innings slowed with that dismissal although Omarzai hit the accelerator with a rapid, undefeated 50-ball innings which included six sixes as South Africa’s bowlers wilted in the heat and were hit to all corners. Shah was stumped off the bowling of debutant spinner Nqabayomzi Peter but he and Omarazai had ensured an awkward chase for the Proteas. South Africa made a positive start to their reply as captain Temba Bavuma, back after illness kept him out of the first game, and Tony de Zorzi put on 73 for the first wicket. But after Bavuma, who top-scored with 38, skied a bouncer and was caught by Mohammad Nabi off Omarazi, wickets tumbled in quick succession. Leg-spin star Rashid was destroyer-in-chief and was ably supported by rookie off-spinner Nangeyalia Kharote who enjoyed figures of 4-26 in just just his third ODI appearance. “I think the job for openers is to lay the foundation but wickets started falling and we came unstuck against spin,” said Bavuma. “It was not a good enough performance. We were not able to take ten wickets and that’s a conversation we need to have. They were a lot better than us clinically.” Rashid’s haul took his career total to 190 wickets in the format. He dismissed middle-order dangermen Tristan Stubbs (five), Kyle Verreynne (two) and Wiaan Mulder (two) for the addition of just eight runs in back-to-back overs. With the series wrapped up, Afghanistan will look to complete a whitewash in the third and final match in Sharjah on Sunday. R. Gurbaz b Burger 105 R. Hassan lbw Markram 29 R. Shah st Verreynne b Peter 50 A. Omarzai not out 86 M. Nabi c Bavuma b Ngidi 13 R. Khan not out 6 EXTRAS (B-4, LB-8, NB-2, W-8) 22 TOTAL (for four wkts, 50 overs) 311 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-88 (Hassan), 2-189 (Gurbaz), 3-216 (Omarzai), 4-271 (Nabi). DID NOT BAT: H. Shahidi, I. Alikhil, A. Ghazanfar, F. Farooqi, N. Kharote BOWLING: Ngidi 10-0-50-1 (5w, 1nb), Burger 10-0-68-1 (1w), Fortuin 10-1-39-0, Peter 10-0-68-1 (1nb), Markram 4-0-20-1, Mulder 6-0-54-0 (1w) T. Bavuma c Nabi b Omarzai 38 T. de Zorzi c Alikhil b Rashid 31 R. Hendricks b Kharote 17 A. Markram b Rashid 21 T. Stubbs c Nabi b Rashid 5 K. Verreynne lbw Rashid 2 W. Mulder lbw Rashid 2 B. Fortuin b Kharote 0 N. Peter lbw Kharote 5 N. Burger not out 1 L. Ngidi b Kharote 3 EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-1, W-6) 9 TOTAL (all out, 34.2 overs) 134 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-73 (Bavuma), 2-85 (de Zorzi), 3-98 (Hendricks), 4-103 (Stubbs), 5-105 (Verreynne), 6-111 (Mulder), 7-112 (Fortuin), 8-127 (Peter), 9-131 (Markram). BOWLING: Farooqi 4-0-18-0 (2w), Ghazanfar 5-0-23-0 (1w, 1nb), Nabi 7-0-29-0 (1w), Omarzai 3-0-17-1, Rashid 9-1-19-5 (1w), Kharote 6.2-0-26-4 (1w). RESULT: Afghanistan won by 177 runs.