Andy Balbirnie scored his 10th one-day international century for Ireland in Belfast but the gap between the two sides was again evident as Afghanistan completed a 42-run victory to take a winning 3-0 lead in the best-of-four series.

While the margin may look respectable, the Boys in Green were chasing the game throughout as centuries from Ibrahim Zadran and Sediq Atal built the platform for a mammoth total that probably should have been more than 343-9.

In reply, Balbirnie began slowly — probably too slowly —taking 75 balls to reach his half-century but then clicked into a higher gear and, helped by three sixes, only needed a further 38 deliveries to post three figures.

When he was caught on the mid-wicket boundary slog sweeping Rashid Khan at the start of the 41st over, Curtis Campher took up the challenge with a stirring 84 from only 46 balls, with five maximums and and eight fours.

The target was always just out of reach, though, and the innings closed on 301 when last man Byron McDonough was bowled for three at the end of the 48th over.

“We did a lot of good stuff but not quite often enough,” Ireland skipper Paul Stirling said.

“You can be chasing 200 or you can be chasing 350. You have to adapt. At one point I thought they were on for 370 or 380, and we clawed it back quite well at the end of their innings.

“That second-wicket partnership really took the game away from us, though. They had the opportunity to bat us out of it, which you don’t often get in one-day cricket, and they effectively did that — almost.”

It wasn’t so much the runs Ibrahim and Sediq compiled in their record stand of 231, it was the fluent, composed and confident way they went about their business, whereas the Ireland top order never looked entirely comfortable.

Rust perhaps? A lack of 50-over games against top quality opposition.

Certainly Balbirnie will be better for the run, and Campher was back to his best. The others will have to raise their games as well on Saturday to avoid an embarrassing 4-0 whitewash.