England suffered a major shock at the hands of Afghanistan in Delhi as a sorry 69-run defeat left their World Cup defence in real jeopardy. Their first loss to Afghanistan in any format does not end England's chances but leaves them with little room for manoeuvre in their final six group stage games.
After a lacklustre bowling performance allowed Afghanistan to reach 284 all out, England's batters succumbed under the lights and were bowled out for 215. Jonny Bairstow fell lbw to left-armer Fazalhaq Farooqi in the second over, Joe Root was bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rahman for 11, and Dawid Malan tamely chipped to extra cover.
Only Harry Brook, who made 66, offered any resistance – captain Jos Buttler was the fourth to fall as he was comprehensively bowled by seamer Naveen-ul-Haq. England's wayward seamers had earlier gifted Afghanistan a platform of 100-0 after 13 overs, with opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz crashing 80 from 57 balls.
Adil Rashid dragged back some control with 3-42 but more loose bowling at the death, plus 58 from Ikram Alikhil, took Afghanistan to a decent score. This is only Afghanistan's second win at a 50-over World Cup and was celebrated wildly by their loud support in the ground.
England, looking to defend the title they won so memorably four years ago, have now lost two of their opening three games and play in-form South Africa next on Saturday in Mumbai.
England in the mire
England lost three times in the group stage en route to winning the title in 2019. They are not at the must-win stage yet, but with difficult matches against hosts India, Pakistan, Australia and the Proteas to come, their backs are well and truly up against the wall.
The manner of this defeat was similar to their opening-day loss to New Zealand. They were poor with the ball and, Brook aside, hardly laid a glove on their opponents with the bat.
Afghanistan's bowlers offered far greater threat. Bairstow was furious with his decision – replays showed the lbw shout was umpire's call on impact and leg stump – but it came within an opening spell of pace and zip from Farooqi after England's seamers had been toothless.
The spinners, including T20 superstar Rashid Khan who had Liam Livingstone lbw 10 and took the match-winning wicket by bowling Mark Wood, then took charge and England had no answer.
Mujeeb bamboozled Chris Woakes throughout one over – having an lbw decision overturned before eventually bowling him – before Brook was caught behind in the 22-year-old's next to effectively end the contest. England now have no choice. They must improve quickly or their reign as 50-over world champions will come to a sorry end.
Bowlers gift the advantage
England's wayward start allowed Afghanistan to take 79 runs from the first 10 overs, the most expensive powerplay in the first innings of the tournament so far.
Classy right-hander Gurbaz played well but Woakes, and Sam Curran, who replaced him after three overs for 30 runs, repeatedly offered far too much width. Woakes conceded 41 runs from four wicketless overs. Curran's four returned figures of 0-46.
Only Reece Topley offered control at the start, but even he was culpable later on in bowling four of England's 14 wides and no-balls.
In between, Rashid looked to have dragged England back. He bowled a maiden straight after the first drinks break and then had opener Ibrahim Zadran caught at mid-wicket and Rahmat Shah stumped in the space of seven balls.
Gurbaz was then crazily run out by his captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, allowing Liam Livingstone and Joe Root to help Rashid turn the screw with a wicket apiece. Still, the 46th over bowled by Curran cost 18 and gave Afghanistan momentum which England were never able to wrestle back.
‘They outplayed us' – what they said
England captain Jos Buttler: “It is disappointing. Having won the toss and electing to field, me missing the fist ball down the leg side kind of set the tone.
“It's a tough loss to take. Congratulations to Afghanistan, they outplayed us today.
“It's always about execution and throughout the game we were not at the level we wanted to be consistently enough. That's the main area we lost the game.”
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi: “I am quite happy, the whole team is happy. This is the best win we have got, we will be full of confidence and it is great for our country.
“The belief, trust and talent is there. The last couple of times we haven't done it but we've always believed, we will be really positive for the next games. This is the first win, not the last win.”
Afghanistan spinner and player of the match Mujeeb Ur Rahman: “It's a very proud moment to be here in the World Cup beating the last champions, it is a good moment for the whole nation and the team. A wonderful performance for the bowlers and the batters.”
Former England bowler Steven Finn on BBC Test Match Special: “England are now hanging by a thread in this competition.
“There are going to be a lot of meetings, a lot of conversations and a lot of head scratching over the next 48 hours.
“They're going to have to pick themselves up because they are not technically out of the tournament. But they're going to need to change something and change it quick if they're going to compete against the best teams in the world.”
— CutC by bbc.com
