England vs Afghanistan, Match 24 - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Venue: Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester Date & Time: Jun 18, 10:30 AM LOCAL

Morgan and Root tore apart Afghanistan's attack © Getty

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Crushing victory

Jofra has ended the match with another of his scorching short deliveries that smashed into Ikram's helmet. As he just jogs in and then bowls those quick short deliveries, he seems to surprise the batsmen for pace.

Anyway, England record a crushing 150-run victory. Morgan set up England's mammoth total of 397 with a brilliant exhibition of power-hitting to finish with a 71-ball 148. The fourth fastest hundred in World Cups. Meanwhile, Root played another of his measured hands to end with 88.

Shahidi, Rahmat and Afghan showed some fight for Afghanistan but they had too much to do. Jofra, Wood and Rashid with the spoils. One area of concern for the hosts would be fluffed chances. Bairstow dropped a couple of catches today.

Gritty knock

Shahidi's battling knock comes to an end. Remember, he took a nasty blow on his head. He played some brave shots after that blow. Eventually, he tried to be too cute, shuffling across the stumps and was castled by Archer.

Lovely leggie

For a while, England looked ragged in the field with Afghanistan collecting useful runs. However, Rashid, who has gone for a few today, bowled a fine legbreak that dipped on the batsman and turned to take the edge of Afghan with Root pouching the catch. End of a fine innings from the former Afghanistan skipper.

He also bagged the scalp of Nabi with the all rounder lifting one straight to the fielder at long on.

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Prelude:

March 13, 2015 - England and Afghanistan locked horns in a dead-rubber contest in the World Cup. The English players seemed to be bereft of belief as they trudged to the field after losing the crucial game versus Bangladesh. James Anderson, playing in his final ODI, seemed to be going through the motions. In short, most of the English players looked like they just wanted to end what was a wretched World Cup and take a flight back home.

June 18, 2019 - the same two sides will meet in the 50-over World Cup at Old Trafford. However, the scenario is different. England is a formidable force in the one day arena and would be aiming to collect two more points in order to climb up the ladder on the points table. However, the battle-hardened Afghanistan side would be hoping to surprise the home side and sneak in an upset.

England have a few injury concerns over Roy and Morgan. Roy, the explosive opener, has already been ruled out for the next few games with a hamstring tear, while the England skipper is down with a back spasm, and perhaps wouldn't be risked for the game versus Afghanistan. In that case, Vince and Moeen Ali are expected to play with Buttler leading the side.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan have been hit by a few issues over infighting. They even dropped Najibullah Zadran, their top-scorer for the tournament, to bring in Afghan for the game against South Africa. Can they rise to the occasion? Maybe they can take a cue from the World T20 in 2016 when they had reduced England to 85 for 7 on a a turning track. Remember, the Old Trafford track has already been used for the IND-PAK game and could assist spinners.