Published: Mar 13, 2015, 04:37 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 13, 2015, 06:15 PM (IST)
England have cruised to a victory against Afghanistan by nine wickets in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, Pool A match 38 at Sydney. After opener Alex Hales was dismissed for 37 in the 14th over, his partner Ian Bell (52*) and James Taylor ensured that there were no further hiccups. Afghanistan were very poor in their bowling and even worse in their fielding, which added to their woes. The batsmen managed to cash in on this and did not have any problems in knocking the runs off. LIVE BLOG: England vs Afghanistan
England and Afghanistan had already been eliminated from the World Cup going into this game and were playing for nothing else other than pride. Afghanistan will be disappointed with their performance in this match but will be proud of the way they’ve performed in the World Cup as a whole. Full Scorecard: England vs Afghanistan
England were set a revised target of 101 from 25 overs by Afghanistan after rain interrupted the game thrice in at Sydney in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Afghanistan got off to a very slow start through their openers Javed Ahmadi (7) and Nawroz Mangal (4). Mangal was the first to go in the seventh over after Joe Root took an excellent catch over his head off the bowling of James Anderson. Ahmadi, followed exactly an over later caught again at first slip by Root off the bowling of Stuart Broad this time. LIVE STREAMING: England vs Afghanistan
Wickets kept tumbling one after the other, with Ravi Bopara, who was drafted into this match due to injury to Moeen Ali chipped in with a couple of wickets in the middle. Afsar Zazai (6), Samiullah Shenwari (7) and Nasir Jamal (17) were dismissed soon after that and Afghanistan found themselves in deep trouble having lost half their side 65 in in the 26th over.
Mohammad Nabi then walked in and broke the shackles with a huge six and got off to a good start in the process. But he threw his wicket away trying to go for a boundary and was caught at mid on by James Tredwell off the bowling of Bopara. Rain then stopped play shortly after that in the 37th for the third time with Afghanistan struggling at 111 for seven in the 37th over with Najibullah Zadran and Hamid Hassan at the crease. LIVE STREAMING: England vs Afghanistan
After inspection, the umpires decided to bring the Afghanistan innings to an end and set England a revised target. The target seems like an easy, but considering England’s recent run of form, Afghanistan will fancy their chances. READ: England off to excellent start against Afghanistan
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 111 for 7 in 36.2 overs (Shafiqullah Shafiq 30, Nasir Jamal 17; Chris Jordan 2 for 13) lost to England 101/1 in 18.1 overs (Alex Hales, Ian Bell 52*; Hamid Hassan 1 for 17) by 9 wickets (D/L) .
Man of the match: Chris Jordan
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
