BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (AFP) - Afghanistan made history on Saturday (Oct 24) when they became the first Associate nation to defeat a Test-playing country in a one-day series with a comprehensive 73-run win over Zimbabwe.

The victory gave Afghanistan a 3-2 series win after the two sides had shared the first four games at the Queen's Sports Club.

Chasing a 246-run winning target, Zimbabwe were skittled out for 172 in the 45th over despite Sean Williams making a fine 102 off 124 balls with three boundaries and four sixes.

Fast bowler Dawlat Zadran finished with a career best 4-22 in his 10 overs.

Earlier, opener Noor Ali Zadran made 54 and Mohammad Nabi, who hit a maiden century in the second match of the series, chipped in with 53 as Afghanistan reached 245-9 in their 50 overs.

"We made history. It's the first time that an Associate team has beaten a Full Member in a series," Nabi told www.cricinfo.com.

"I'm very happy with my team's performance and my performance. It's very good for me and also for my team." He added: "When we batted first, we decided that if we scored 250 it would be difficult to chase on that pitch. The openers and then the middle-order batsmen, they played very well."

Afghanistan batsman Samiullah Shenwari later tweeted: "Simply an awesome display of cricket by our lads. We created a history, congrats everyone."