Sam Curran’s breathtaking five-wicket haul and a few spectacular fielding led England to a five-wicket win over Afghanistan of their opening match on the Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday in Perth.
England skipper Jos Buttler gained the toss and elected to subject and his seam bowlers did the trick for the workforce billed as one of many match favourites.
Curran, a left-arm fast, returned figures of 5-10 — the primary England bowler to take 5 wickets in a T20 — to ship Afghanistan packing for 112 in 19.4 overs.
England, who crashed out within the semi-finals on the World Cup final yr within the United Arab Emirates, achieved their goal in 18.1 overs — however solely after the Afghanistan bowlers proved a degree by choosing 5 wickets.
The bowlers stood out. Mark Wood struck together with his first ball within the third over of the innings to get Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who had cracked a six within the earlier over, caught behind for 10.
Ibrahim Zadran hit again with a six and two fours however the England quick bowlers largely stored a lid on the scoring for the primary six overs of powerplay, when solely two fielders are allowed outdoors the inside circle.
England’s star all-rounder Ben Stokes, who bowled the opening over and returned figures of 2-19, got here again to get Hazratullah Zazai out, with Liam Livingstone taking a splendid operating catch at full stretch within the deep.
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Zadran tried to sustain the tempo in his run-a-ball knock, which ended with a test shot to backward level off Curran. He made 32.
The sequence of gorgeous catches continued with Adil Rashid operating backwards to full a wonderful take at deep mid-wicket to ship again Najibullah Zadran and provides Stokes his second wicket.
Buttler additionally joined within the catching heroics as he gloved a one-handed catch down the leg aspect to ship opposition skipper Mohammad Nabi trudging again to the pavilion for 3.
Wickets stored tumbling as Afghanistan nosedived from 91-4.
Curran picked two on successive balls, together with Rashid Khan for a duck, to be on a hat-trick on the finish of his third over.
Usman Ghani performed out the hat-trick ball firstly of the twentieth over however obtained out within the subsequent ball as Curran wiped off the tail.
In reply, England misplaced openers Buttler (18) and Alex Hales (19) after a fast begin, however Afghanistan’s fielders didn’t take their catches. Hales was dropped twice on 4 and 17.
Afghanistan stored putting as England misplaced half their aspect and Rashid Khan despatched again Harry Brook.
Livingstone, unbeaten on 29, obtained the remaining runs with Moeen Ali, on eight, for firm.
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