Key events
35th over: Afghanistan 172-4 (Ibrahim 94, Azmatullah 17) Feels like the deep breath before the plunge for Afghanistan. They’re watchful as Livingstone delivers a variety of offies and leggies, giving away just five singles. Ibrahim, who was accelerating through the gears, is now watchful as he crawls through the 90s.
34th over: Afghanistan 167-4 (Ibrahim 92, Azmatullah 14) Wood grimaces after delivering his first ball. He’s up to full speed in no time, though, cranking it north of 90 mph by his third ball. He tumbles over onto his gammy knee after his fourth which is squirted past point by Ibrahim and counts for two runs. A lovely slower ball to finish ends a handy over. But he’s hobbling after collecting his cap from the umpire. If he misses Tests later in the year there’ll be an inquisition.
Wood is back. How will that left knee hold up?
Is Baz missing a trick?
I know I’m a simple man (because people keep telling me) but I don’t understand why there is so little discussion about England’s new approach.
That’s from Andrew Moreman who maybe needs some new pals in Devon.
I mean all hail the mighty Baz obviously but we went to the sub continent with a bevy of fast bowlers and it didn’t work. it never has. And so we brought the same approach to this tournament where, hang on. It’s not working.
Weird one. Because Archer and Wood were very good early on, but it’s the spinners who have been impressive since the ball has aged. Maybe better balance, as opposed to one strategy or the other.
33rd over: Afghanistan 165-4 (Ibrahim 90, Azmatullah 14) Archer completes his 8th over. Not entirely sure what Buttler’s plan is here. Wood doesn’t look 100% but he’s on the field and will have likely be asked to bowl. Good pace from Archer and the Afghan batters are circumspect, happy to bunt and biff ones and twos. Ibrahim moves to 90 with a couple past midwicket and then a steer to deep third.
32nd over: Afghanistan 160-4 (Ibrahim 87, Azmatullah 13) Rashid’s slower pace compels the batters to wait for it, but Azmatullah is onto the final ball with a mighty swing of his bat. It explodes off the middle with a crackk and sails a long way over the boundary at wide long-on. There were just four singles before that, but that monstrous six means the batters win that set on points.
31st over: Afghanistan 149-4 (Ibrahim 84, Azmatullah 5) Buttler is looking to take advantage of this opening by reintroducing Archer. He’s got four overs left so it’s a gamble, but I see the logic. The quick starts with a series of leg-cutters. There’s also a knuckleball. Archer is showing off his range of tricks. Six off the over courtesy of five singles dabbed to boundary riders and a wide down the leg side.
30th over: Afghanistan 143-4 (Ibrahim 82, Azmatullah 1) Rashid returns with an important wicket. His first ball was struck for a single past cover by Ibrahim, his second was a googly to Shahidi and his third got the breakthrough. Shahidi premeditated the reverse sweep but realised about halfway through that he picked the wrong ball. It was too full and too flat and squeezed under the swinging blade. Exactly what England needed as the Afghan batters were climbing through the gears.
WICKET! Shahidi b Rashid 40 (Afghanistan 140-4)
When in trouble, call on Adil! Astute captaincy from Buttler. Then again, this was the obvious play. After Overton got spanked, Rashid returned and a slider out the front of the hand beats Shahidi’s booming reverse sweep and clatters the stumps behind.
29th over: Afghanistan 139-3 (Ibrahim 80, Shahidi 40) Amazing how quickly this has turned. The bowlers were all over the batters not long ago but it’s the reverse now. Shahidi skips down the wicket to root and finds a big gap at extra cover with a lofted inside-out drive. Wonderful cricket. That brings up the 100-run partnership. Only seven overs ago they brought up the 50-run stand. I was calling for more intent and that’s exactly what they’ve delivered. it’s now England feeling the pressure.
28th over: Afghanistan 133-3 (Ibrahim 79, Shahidi 35) Ibrahim knows that Overton is going to bang it on a good length so he waits for it, leans back and smashes it down the ground with a horizontal bat, almost a tennis forehand. Overton then over-corrects and delivers a leg side half-volley that is clipped for four through midwicket. Excellent batting. A diving Livingstone prevents a third boundary down at deep backward square, keeping the pull to just two. But there’s no stopping the final ball from crossing the rope, a finer pull sees the over cost 16 as Ibrahim’s strike-rate climbs to almost a run-a-ball.
27th over: Afghanistan 117-3 (Ibrahim 63, Shahidi 35) Again, fantastic from Root. They just can’t get him away. Varying his pace, he’s keeping them honest, conceding five singles.
26th over: Afghanistan 112-3 (Ibrahim 60, Shahidi 33) Overton back into the attack and Ibrahim welcomes him with the shot of the day. A stand and deliver, hold the pose lofted drive down the ground. Just delicious. A single brings Shahidi on strike and he tries to force it, losing his shape as he slogs and misses. He gets down the other end before Ibrahim picks up two from a short ball to the leg side and then keeps the strike with another single from a checked-pull. Better from Afghanistan. It’s only the start, but feels like a small momentum shift. Can they keep it going?
25th over: Afghanistan 103-3 (Ibrahim 52, Shahidi 32) Better from Shahidi who explodes out his crease and mows Root away to the midwicket boundary. Didn’t time it, but he got enough wood on it to drag it past Brook at mid-on. That came after a single for Ibrahim but was followed by four dot balls.
24th over: Afghanistan 98-3 (Ibrahim 51, Shahidi 28) Ibrahim brings up his half century by swatting a full toss down the ground for a single. Livingstone sorts his length out and gives up just two more singles for the rest of the over. Don’t get me wrong, England’s spinners are bowling well, but there’s a distinct lack of intent from the batters.
23rd over: Afghanistan 94-3 (Ibrahim 49, Shahidi 26) Root is bowling well. A fine tickle for two from Ibrahim and a single from Shahidi down the ground is all they can muster from these skiddy deliveries. This is more than part-timer stuff. Root has conceded just eight runs from three overs.
22nd over: Afghanistan 91-3 (Ibrahim 47, Shahidi 25) Livingstone into the attack. Not a bad idea given the way Root’s sliding offies have cramped the batters. An ugly hack from Shahidi gets him two through the leg side and a single wide of long-off brings up the 50 partnership off 80 balls. Ibrahim is given a freebie with a full toss down the leg side that he tickles for four with a fine paddle.
21st over: Afghanistan 84-3 (Ibrahim 43, Shahidi 22) Good from Root. His bowling came on in the SA20 and he’s now more than a handy operator. Understands how to vary his pace and quickly works out where the batter doesn’t want it to land. Proof is in the pudding. Just two singles off that set.
20th over: Afghanistan 81-3 (Ibrahim 42, Shahidi 20) That’s more like it! Ibrahim skips down the track and with a lovely swing of the bat deposits Rashid for six down the ground. Picked the wrong-un and was all over it. That was off the second ball which then allowed the batters to rotate the strike for the next four balls. String a few more overs like that together and they’ll be back on track.
19th over: Afghanistan 71-3 (Ibrahim 34, Shahidi 18) Root into the attack and his round-arm action works a treat. No room to free the arms and his first over goes for just two singles. Afghanistan are going nowhere fast. They have to show more bravery. They bat deep. Time for one of them to open up.
18th over: Afghanistan 69-3 (Ibrahim 33, Shahidi 18) In response to the extra intent shown by the batters, Rashid is slowing his pace down, forcing them to wait just a touch longer for the ball to arrive. Ibrahim gets back and works a couple into a big gap at midwicket. Two singles elsewhere. Still not enough punch from the batters. This is a dream batting surface and this partnership needs to find an extra gear. Wood returns to the field but he’s not moving with great freedom. He has to wait 38 minutes before he can bowl again.
17th over: Afghanistan 65-3 (Ibrahim 30, Shahidi 16) Overton is hammering it back-of-a-length with a series of cutters. He’s sussed things out by taking a bit of pace off the ball. A back-foot cut is timed well by Shahidi, but he picks out Archer at deep third. Ibrahim also cracks one off the back foot but has to settle for one as it races straight into the hands of the mad sweeping in the covers. Two more singles adds up to just four off the over. Overton has been very tidy, conceding just 12 off his four overs.
16th over: Afghanistan 61-3 (Ibrahim 28, Shahidi 14) A bit of intent shown by the batters. They’re using their feet to Rashid and reverse-sweeping him – two past cover off Shahidi’s swishing blade. Three singles has the score ticking, but something more dynamic is needed.
15th over: Afghanistan 56-3 (Ibrahim 27, Shahidi 10) A first boundary since the 7th over as Shahidi leans into a drive that slices backward of square and beats a diving Archer at deep third. Picks up a single as well but otherwise it’s points to Overton as he beats the bat with a lovely lifter off a good length. A partnership is slowly building. They need to keep going.
They’ll break for drinks.
16th over: Afghanistan 51-3 (Ibrahim 27, Shahidi 5) A rare bit of dross from Rashid drifts down leg for a wide. A googly is worked by Ibrahim to deep midwicket for a couple and there’s also two away off the face of the bat on the off side. Three singles adds up to a relatively expensive over. Eight off it.
13th over: Afghanistan 43-3 (Ibrahim 22, Shahidi 3) Change of ends for Overton as he replaces Archer. Decent pace first up as he touches 87 mph and beats Shahidi’s flash outside the off stump. He’s then fuller and skiddy, keeping it on a tight line, hitting a hard length. Another one zips past Ibrahim’s attempt at a scythe off the back foot. Just one run off the over. Afghanistan are in a hole right now.
12th over: Afghanistan 42-3 (Ibrahim 22, Shahidi 2) Spin now as Rashid comes into the attack. As you’d expect he’s on the money from the get go, flighting it up around a fourth/fifth stump line. Ibrahim swats a single down the ground and Shahidi plops one down to long-on for a single of his own. The last five overs have gone at just 2.6 an over.
11th over: Afghanistan 40-3 (Ibrahim 21, Shahidi 1) Archer continues with a sixth straight over. Still looks fresh and he’s going at less than four an over, so why not? The Afghans just cannot get him away. Just one wide for a misplaced bouncer the only run scored off that one. Shahidi tries to give himself room and hack at one, but he’s nowhere near the ball.
Should Wood have been there in the first place? Not according to Kevin Wilson:
No disrespect to Wood but I’m not sure he should be in this side anyway. He averages 40 in ODI cricket and no other side in the world would select a fast bowler with that record besides us. Yes, he’s quick but pace flies to the fence quicker. Mahmood should in this side anyway and Wood should play overseas Tests on rapid tracks.
10th over: Afghanistan 39-3 (Ibrahim 21, Shahidi 1) Overton replaces Wood and starts with a tidy over. Obviously not as quick but on the money. He’s got the lefty Shahidi swishing and missing at a couple outside the off stump. A pair of singles off the outside edge adds two more the score, but that powerplay well and truly belongs to Archer and England.
9th over: Afghanistan 37-3 (Ibrahim 20, Shahidi 0) Afghanistan need a partnership and they need one now. Archer, who hasn’t been brilliant, was just too quick for Rahmat and suckered him into an errant pull shot. Lazy is perhaps a better way to describe that shot. He’d picked up two with a punch through the covers off his back foot after Ibrahim flashed a single down to deep third, but he’s in the shed now.
WICKET! Rahmat c Rashid b Archer 4 (Afghanistan 37-3)
Bumped out! Banged in short and Rahmat is in no position to take on the pull. That flies off the top edge and floats down to Rashid at fine leg who gobbles it up without a worry. Archer, who became the fastest English bowler to 50 ODI wickets in 30 games, now has 51. Afghanistan’s decision to bat first is backfiring.
8th over: Afghanistan 34-2 (Ibrahim 19, Rahmat 2) Wood falls down again to end the over. Surely that should be that. he absolutely pounds the turf in his run up and follow through. Yup, he’s leaving the field. Smart decision. He doesn’t look comfortable. Sad to see him limp off. Both batters pick up singles with Ibrahim collecting two with a drive through the covers.
Wood is in trouble here. It’s his left knee, I think. He’s now lying down and receiving some treatment. He doesn’t look comfortable on it. As Ian Smith says, England shouldn’t be risking such a “valuable commodity”. There are bigger fish to fry over the horizon. Well, he’s insisting he’s OK so he’ll carry on. Two more balls in this over.
7th over: 30-2 (Ibrahim 16, Rahmat 1) Width for the first time and Ibrahim throws his hands at it and slashes it for four through point. He then leans into a textbook straight drive with some perfect balance. Archer’s had enough of these drives and ends the over with a bumper.
6th over: Afghanistan 21-0 (Ibrahim 8, Rahmat 0) Wood bangs one in short and Ibrahim leans back and pokes at it. The blistering pace on the ball means it carries all the way for six, beating Archer at deep third. A quite remarkable (and lucky) shot. Wood won’t mind. He’s got it on a string and is terrorising the Afghan batters with some delicious shape away to the right hander and extreme gas. Two beauties would have found the edge of better players.
5th over: Afghanistan 15-2 (Ibrahim 2, Rahmat 0) Two in the over means England are all on top. First the shape into the right hander for the first scalp, but the second was a consequence of the fuller ball holding it’s line, duping Sediq into playing for the swing.
WICKET! Sediq lbw Archer 4 (Afghanistan 15-2)
Three reds and he’s gone! Sediq was convinced he’d hit it, but he actually thwacked his own pad with his bat as he looked to steer this straight one through midwicket. Fell over his front leg and was beaten for pace. Having been clipped for four by the lefty two balls earlier, Archer deserves credit for sticking with that full length. Big Jof is on a roll!
Joel Wilson has stuck his finger up, new batter Sediq has been struck on the pads by Archer but he reviews. Is this two in the over for Jof?
WICKET! Gurbaz b Archer 6 (Afghanistan 11-1)
50 ODI wickets for Archer! Finally Archer gets his in-swinger outside the line of off-stump. It’s almost a half-volley but Gurbaz’s feet are static as he prods away from his body, catching the ball with an inside edge that proves his undoing. A soft dismissal from the batter’s point of view but Archer won’t care about that. England are on the board.
4th over: Afghanistan 11-0 (Gurbaz 6, Ibrahim 2) Wood is in the groove here. Delicious arcing shape away from the right hander off a full length at serious pace. An absolute jaffa beats Gurbaz’s edge. A half-volley is half-bunted by Ibrahim for a single in the covers and both batters steer singles down to deep third. Wood finishes with a trademark move by falling over in his follow through as he strays down leg; a leg-bye off Gurbaz’s hip to close out the over.
3rd over: Afghanistan 7-0 (Gurbaz 5, Ibrahim 0) Archer keeps hooping it in but it’s not dangerous. Gurbaz takes a big swipe at one and gets a piece of it, but Rashid down at fine leg does well to save the boundary with a diving stop. Just two runs. There’s an appeal for a strangle down the leg side, but it’s off Gurbaz’s pad. Jof still struggling to find a consistently probing area.
There’s a bit of a disparity between the scorecards on Cricinfo and Sky. The former has Ibrahim on 1, the latter on 0 (must have assumed it was a leg-bye in the first over). I’ll go with the latter as it’s the one I’m watching.
2nd over: Afghanistan 5-0 (Gurbaz 3, Ibrahim 1) Wood from the other end. Good wheels early, edging past 90 mph. Lovely shape away from the right hander and the high speed means Ibrahim is prodding at it from the crease. Gurbaz sneaks a quick single with Salt hitting the stumps with a tumbling dive forward, but the batters are home safe. Tidy start from Wood.
1st over: Afghanistan 4-0 (Gurbaz 2, Ibrahim 1) Archer’s first ball is steered down to deep third for a single by Gurbaz. The bowler then tightens his line, getting one to nip off a tricky length and cramp Ibrahim. Interesting field; a very backward point as well as a man catching in front of point. But the shape in allows Ibrahim to glove a single down to fine leg. Another drifts down leg – Jof hasn’t quite found his radar – and the final delivery is tucked to deep backward square.
Right then, Gurbaz is taking guard, Archer is tossing the ball between his hands. We’re ready to go!
More from Ali:
He won’t be adding to it today, having ticked England off his hit list during the 2023 World Cup, but in order here are the 45 (!) countries Mohammad Nabi has beaten during his incredible career: Bahrain, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Iran, Thailand, Nepal, UAE, Japan, the Bahamas, Botswana, Jersey, Fiji, Tanzania, Italy, Hong Kong, Argentina, Papua New Guinea, Cayman Islands, Oman, Denmark, Bermuda, Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands, China, Namibia, Singapore, Canada, USA, Kenya, Pakistan, Trinidad & Tobago, Bhutan, Maldives, Barbados, Uganda, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia.
Joe Root, by comparison, has beaten 12.
Anthems now. Conditions look decent. Not a huge crowd yet, but as Ali said, it is a work day. Hopefully it fills up later.
Can England rally round their “brilliant leader” as Joe Root called him?
Is Livingstone living on a prayer?
Yes, says John Starbuck:
Hi. Unless he produces a whizzo performance today, I suspect Livingstone will be omitted from Saturday’s game, in favour of the (now) extra spinner. What do you reckon?
I’m a fan of Livingstone. Bats, bowls, gun fielder. But yes, he needs a show today.
All the chat on Sky in the build up has focussed on the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan and they’re not pulling punches.
Nasser Hussain – who was skipper when England chose to boycott a game against Zimbabwe at the 2003 World Cup – and Michael Atherton are very strong on this.
“The game deserves better leadership,” says Atherton. “The Afghan women deserve better leadership.”
Both former skippers are steadfast that this game should not have gone ahead (unless I’m reading them wrong) and that England should have shown some backbone. Got to say I fully agree with them.
Kudos, chaps.
Afghanistan team
No changes from the side that lost to South Africa.
Zadran, Gurbaz (wk), Atal, Shah, Shahidi (c), Omarzai, Nabi, Naib, Khan, Ahmad, Farooqi.
England team
Jamie Overton comes into the fold as the seam bowling all-rounder.
Salt, Duckett, Smith (wk), Root, Brook, Buttler (cap), Livingstone, Overton, Archer, Rashid, Wood.
Afghanistan win the toss and bat
Well that’s a surprise. All the talk before the toss was around how Afghanistan would’ve been keen to bowl, but there you go. England will do the honours with the ball first up.
We’ve got our first email… and it’s none other than Guy Hornsby:
Morning Daniel. I hope you’ve got your white whale South Africa shirt ready for their next game. As for England, helped by the weather, I’m not sure it’ll mean much. We can, should, and probably will win today. As gutted as I am for Carse, I think Overton’s variations will give us more options today. But Afghanistan are a serious team now and we can’t expect to win. We need to be ruthless and we need to play the situation, or we could fall flat on our faces. So much more needed from this team to get anywhere. Because we won’t stand a chance against SA if we don’t play better.”
Good news on the shirt front. I’ve got it! Cost me a pretty penny, but worth it.
Agree that Afghanistan are a serious team. They’re certainly better than what they produced against the Saffas. England will have to be sharp today.
Good news on the Ali Martin-laptop front.
All relatively friendly and got resolved soon after. Wasn’t like they were pointing them directly at us…
Side note from me, it’s really great to see Pakistan hosting a major(ish) tournament again. I know they’ve been knocked out, and I know they’ve had to play India ‘away” and I know there are issues the two south-Asian giants playing each, and I know there are a million things that our sport gets wrong, but this is at least a crumb of comfort. The crowds have been great (at least in the games I’ve watched) and the cricket’s been decent too.
Our man Ali Martin is at the Gaddafi Stadium, dealing with all sorts in Lahore, including security guards with machine guns who insist that laptops aren’t allowed in the ground (hopefully that’s all sorted, otherwise you’ll have to call in your copy):
Curious as to size of the crowd given it’s a working day, although walked past a fair few guys in Afghan shirts, face paints etc
There’s more than just a Champions Trophy semi-final spot on the line for Jos Buttler. He admits that his captaincy is in jeapardy.
Lose today, and he might not wear the armband again once the team returns from Pakistan.
Preamble
Daniel Gallan
Sound the klaxon – we’ve got a MUST-WIN contest on our hands. The equation is simple. Loser goes home. Winner stays on with a shot at the semis to come.
England should win it, really. They’re fresh from posting a monster total against Australia (sure they lost, but that doesn’t mean their score of 351-8 wasn’t sizeable). And Afghanistan, despite all their advances in recent years, were pretty poor against South Africa, stumbling to a 107-run loss in their opening game.
The cricket, of course, is just one strand to today’s narrative. This fixture has been wrapped up in political tension ever since there were calls for England to boycott the game in response to the gender apartheid taking place in Afghanistan. Those calls were rejected and the show goes on.
England’s former No. 3 stalwart and now Afghanistan’s coach, Jonathan Trott, has defended his players, but they need to do their bit with bat and ball. Can they turn controversy into rocket fuel? Or will England roar back to set up a showdown with South Africa on Saturday?
We’ll find out when things get going at 9am UK time, 1pm in Lahore.
Toss, teams and further updates to follow.
If you’d like to get in touch and share your thoughts, please drop me a mail.
