Daily Times

An injury plagued England will be eyeing the top spot in the table when they come up against the struggling Afghanistan in ICC World Cup 2019 encounter at Old Trafford here on Tuesday (today). The English, ranked as World Number 1 in ODI cricket, will definitely be without Jason Roy (hamstring), while skipper Eoin Morgan is likely to be fit after recovering from a back spasm. Both players suffered their injuries against West Indies on Friday and Roy will be out for at least a couple of games. The injury to Roy is likely to benefit Moeen Ali, as two of his three ODI hundreds have come as an opening batsman and his off-spin would help cater to an Old Trafford pitch which was used on Sunday for India-Pakistan and exhibited a healthy degree of turn.

England’s batsmen have been scoring in excess of 300 for fun in recent weeks and will look to continue the trend, while the bowlers spearheaded by Jofra Archer and Mark Wood have troubled some of the best in the business with pace and bounce. One can only expect England to continue in the same vein. Afghanistan, who have been more rash than they would have liked so far are yet to register a point at the World Cup after four matches, and will depend heavily on their spinners Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi to derail the English batsmen. The Afghanistan batting has been unreliable but all eyes will be on how opener Hazratullah Zazai can deal with the fast and furious England attack. Gulbadin Naib will be hoping Zazai, who’s found it hard against quality bowling, can be at his dangerous best and allow the rest of the batting to take advantage of his free-scoring ways.

Middle-order batsman Najibullar Zadran has been their most consistent performer with the willow but against South Africa, they will need the likes of Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Naib to chip in. For Naib and co, who are all but sure of not making it to the final four, this represents a chance to punch well above their weights, while England look to put the foot down on the pedal.

At the World Cup, England have played some brilliant cricket and the only blip came against Pakistan after which they bounced back in style against Bangladesh and West Indies. Afghanistan have lost all their games at the World Cup so far, and against England the four match looks set to be increased by a game. Their last ODI win came against Ireland before the World Cup.

Players to watch out for: Jofra Archer: The England team’s newest fast bowler is showing the world exactly why he is so highly rated. With nine wickets in four games and speeds in excess of 90 mph, he is England’s most potent weapon.

Rashid Khan: He is one of the best leg-spinners in the world in the shorter formats of the game and considering he hasn’t had the best tournament yet he will be looking to get a move on with the ball.

Squads:

England: Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes,James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

Afghanistan: Gulbadin Naib (c), Noor Ali Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah (wk), Asghar Afghan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Ikram Ali Khil.