England vs Afghanistan CWC 2023
England vs Afghanistan will be played on 15 October 2023. This is going to be an exciting match. England struggles against the spin, and I feel Rashid Khan picking up many wickets. An England collapse on the charts? Eh, let’s stop being crazy. You can follow the live score under this paragraph. Also, do not forget to read about the highlights at the end and predictions somewhere in the middle.
Read: ICC Cricket World Cup points table 2023
England is struggling with the NRR so far. They haven’t done anything evil. However, that collapse against the Black Caps will hurt England in this tournament. That dent in the NRR will be a thorn in their hands.
Check: ICC World Cup Schedule 2023 PDF Download |Men’s one Day World Cup
Afghanistan is yet to win a match. They suffered humiliating defeats at the hands of India and Bangladesh. It will be hard to win this match. But you never know; Afghanistan can upset any team if they are taken lightly
Match details
Read: 2023 Cricket World Cup Teams List – UPDATED
Live streaming
Afghanistan cricket fans can switch to ArianaTV for the live streams. However, they can switch to any other live-streaming platform using the VPN. But that won’t be necessary. The live streaming during the Asia Cup 2023 was OK. And this has been going well as well.
England fans can watch the live streaming on Sky Sports. There are numerous other streaming platforms. But you must stick with the official broadcasters for this to work out.
Read: ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Live Streaming
Prediction – Who will win?
Let’s jump to predictions. This is a no-brainer that England will win this match. They have faced Afghanistan twice in ODI matches. And all of those matches were in the World Cups. Maybe this indicates that ECB and ACB should work on a bilateral series, eh?
Afghanistan is struggling in every department. Rashid Khan hasn’t been able to perform that well. Their batting isn’t scoring runs. Meanwhile, England has jumped back from the flop show in Ahmedabad against New Zealand. Joe Root is scoring runs, Dawid Malan has shifted his gears, and Jos Buttler is in the mood to hit every ball out of the ground.
This is England’s win-through and through.
Highlights
We will add content here on the match day.
Toss
England won the toss, and they chose to bowl first. Seems like we will see some early wickets falling.
Playing squad
| AFGHANISTAN | ENGLAND |
|---|---|
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | Jhony Bairtstow |
| Ibrahim Zadran | David Malan |
| Rahmat Shah | Joe Root |
| Hashmatullah Shahidi | Harry Brook |
| Azmatullah Omarzai | Jos Buttler |
| Ikram Alikhil | Liam Livingstone |
| Mohammad Nabi | Sam Curran |
| Rashid Khan | Chris Woakes |
| Mujeeb ur Rahman | Adil Rashid |
| Naveen ul Haq | Mark Wood |
| FazalHaq Farooqi | Reece Topley |
First Innings – Afghanistan
| AFGHANISTAN 284-10 (50 overs) | |
| BATTING | BOWLING |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz 80 (57) | Adil Rashid 3-42 |
| Ikram Alikhil 58 (66) | Mark Wood 2-50 |
| Mujeeb Ur Rahman 28 (16) | Liam Livingstone 1-33 |
| TARGET | 285 runs |
- Afghanistan was allowed to bat first and got off to a flying start. Woakes and Topley were off the mark early on and were pretty loose.
- Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran seized the chance and made the most of the surface and what was available. Afghanistan scored 79 runs in the first ten overs, with Gurbaz looking unstoppable. However, things swiftly deteriorated.
- Ibrahim Zadran was the first to depart, followed by Rahmat Shah. Gurbaz looked excellent but was sadly run out for 80 the next ball.
- The wickets kept falling as Afghanistan moved from 114/0 to 190/6. England’s spinners were outstanding; Rashid opened the innings for England, and their part-timers, Livingstone and Root, also bowled admirably.
- Ikram Alikhil, on the other hand, batted with elegance and kept them in the game. Rashid Khan and Mujeeb briefly appeared to supplement Alikhil’s fifty, and Afghanistan finished with a solid 284.
- Rashid has to bowl well, as we have predicted, if they want to have a winning chance.
Second Innings – England
| ENGLAND 215-10 (40.3 overs) | |
| BATTING | BOWLING |
| Harry Brook 66 (61) | Rashid Khan 3-37 |
| Harry Brook 32 (39) | Mujeeb Ur Rahman 3-51 |
| Adil Rashid 20 (13) | Mohammad Nabi 2-16 |
| RESULT | Afghanistan won by 69 runs |
- Afghanistan cricket has made history by defeating one of the tournament’s favourites, registering only their second World Cup victory.
- Also, this is their first-ever win in the ODIs against England. So far, they have only met the English team in the World Cups. They played against them in the 2015 and 2019 World Cups. They have met in 2023, and what an upset it has been for the defenders.
- We did say that Rashid Khan would take a lot of wickets today. And finally, that happened. England struggles against the spin. It was inevitable that they were going to have trouble playing Rashid. Mohammad Nabi contained them very well, giving away only 16 runs at an economy of 2.66. This hurt them, putting pressure on the batters.
- Harry Brook was the only batter that showed resistance against the Afghanistan bowlers.
- This has to be a wakeup call for the English and a warning for all the other teams who would take this Afghan team lightly.
- What an entertaining match it has been.
Man of the match
Mujeeb ur Rahman deserves this one. He had marked his name in the annals of Afghanistan’s cricket history. They have won the ODI game against the English for the first time. This is an upset, and it will significantly hurt England in this tournament.
