Zimbabwe lost to Afghanistan by 12 runs through the Duckworth-Lewis method as rains forced an early abandonment of the first ODI match at Harare Sports Club on Thursday.

Zimbabwe were chasing a revised target of 206 after the match was reduced to 46 overs because of the delays caused by the bad weather.

But the match could not resume because there were bad patches around the wicket that made the game unplayable.

By the time the match was called off, the Chevrons were battling on 99/4 after 27.2 overs. Craig Ervine, 38 not out, was leading Zimbabwe’s fightback when the nature intervened.

Earlier Zimbabwe had restricted their opponents to 215 with skipper Graeme Cremer taking 3/46 while there were two wickets apiece for Tendai Chatara and Chris Mpofu.

Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai was voted man of the match for his knock of 50 runs, which was the highest by any batsman on the day.

The Tigers now lead the five match series 1-0. The teams will meet in the second ODI on Sunday.