PERTH: England began their Twenty20 World Cup campaign with a five-wicket win over Afghanistan on Saturday courtesy of seamer Sam Curran’s haul of 5-10 and a sublime effort in the field.

Afghanistan crumbled to 112 all out in 19.4 overs after being sent in to bat. Ibrahim Zadran (32) and Usman Ghani (30) provided the only resistance before falling to Curran, who claimed his career-best figures in 3.4 overs.

England chased down the modest target with 11 balls to spare, reaching 113-5 and maintaining their unblemished record at Perth Stadium after three visits.

“We do a lot of hard work on our fielding, it will be a massive factor in the tournament I think,” man-of-the-match Curran told reporters. “We knew it would be a tricky chase... we won in the end and that’s the most important thing.”

In what was a sedate powerplay of 35-1 for Afghanistan, opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the first to depart, caught behind for 10 during a fiery opening spell by Mark Wood (2-23) who clocked speeds reaching 154 kph.

England’s bowlers continued to cramp the batsmen during the middle overs, aided by spectacular fielding by Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid who held on to running catches off Ben Stokes (2-19) to send Hazrat Zazai (seven) and Najibullah Zadran (13) on their way.

Before Curran cleaned up the tail, captain-keeper Jos Buttler joined in on the acrobatic act, completing a flying one-handed catch after captain Mohammad Nabi tickled Wood down the leg-side on three.

In reply, England lost openers Buttler (18) and Alex Hales (19) after a quick start, but Afghanistan’s fielders didn’t take their catches quite like their opponents did. Hales was dropped twice on four and 17.

“I would have liked less dropped catches, less fumbles, less mis-fields if possible,” Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott said. “I thought the way we bowled, the spinners were really, really good. And so there is something to take away from the game, but we need a few more extra wins.”

Afghanistan kept striking as England lost half their side and Rashid Khan sent back Harry Brook.

Livingstone, unbeaten on 29, got the remaining runs with Moeen Ali, on eight, for company.

England v Afghanistan

Scoreboard

AFGHANISTAN:

H. Zazai c Livingstone b Stokes 7

R. Gurbaz c Buttler b Wood 10

I. Zadran c Ali b Curran 32

U. Ghani c Livingstone b Curran 30

N. Zadran c Rashid b Stokes 13

M. Nabi c Buttler b Wood 3

A. Omarzai c Stokes b Curran 8

R. Khan c Hales b Curran 0

M. Ur Rahman c and b Woakes 0

F. Ahmad not out 2

F. Farooqi c Malan b Curran 0

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-3) 7

TOTAL (all out, 19.4 overs) 112

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11 (Gurbaz), 2-35 (Zazai), 3-62 (Ibrahim), 4-82 (Najibullah), 5-91 (Nabi), 6-109 (Omarzai), 7-109 (Rashid), 8-110 (Mujeeb), 9-112 (Ghani).

BOWLING: Stokes 4-0-19-2 (w1), Woakes 4-0-24-1 (w1), Wood 4-0-23-2, Curran 3.4-0-10-5 (w1), Adil Rashid 4-0-32-0.

ENGLAND:

J. Buttler c Mujeeb b Farooqi 18

A. Hales c Farooqi b Ahmad 19

D. Malan c Nabi b Mujeeb 18

B. Stokes b Nabi 2

L. Livingstone not out 29

H. Brook c Zadran b Rashid 7

M. Ali not out 8

EXTRAS (W-12) 12

TOTAL (for five wkts, 18.1 overs) 113

DID NOT BAT: C. Woakes, S. Curran, A. Rashid, M. Wood.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-35 (Buttler), 2-52 (Hales), 3-65 (Stokes), 4-81 (Malan), 5-97 (Brook).

BOWLING: Farooqi 4-0-24-1 (w4), Omarzai 1.1-0-11-0 (w3), Mujeeb 4-0-22-1, Rashid 4-0-17-1, Ahmad 2-0-23-1 (w5), Nabi 3-0-16-1.

RESULT: England won by five wickets.

Published in Dawn, October 23th, 2022