Afghanistan spinners pulled off one of the greatest upsets ever witnessed at a World Cup tournament against England last time out – now can they do it again?
Wood plays and mishits at Rashid’s delivery before cutting him to cow corner for four runs. Topley comes on as Wood’s replacement in this nailbiter of a match. The game now stands on an edge. In this article, we will discuss about England Cricket Team vs Afghanistan National Cricket Team Match Scorecard.
1. Afghanistan vs. England 2012 World Twenty20
Luke Wright unleashed an emphatic display today as England opened their World Twenty20 title defence with an emphatic win against Afghanistan. Their visitors could find no answer to England’s powerful batting, led by Wright who equalled England’s highest total ever achieved in this format by posting 99 runs unbeaten.
England’s innings started slowly, with opener Craig Kieswetter making an indecisive start by leaving or playing 13 of the first 16 balls he faced. But eventually their batsmen settled in, with Luke Wright taking charge with an impressive 22-run sixth over bowled by Mohammad Nabi before Eoin Morgan joined their chase forming an unbreakable partnership of 72 runs before Nabi took two wickets in one over to put Afghanistan back on its heels.
As England scored runs at an accelerated rate, wickets continued to fall swiftly with Jos Buttler taking an amazing diving catch at fine leg off Izatullah Dawlatzai while Bairstow was caught off Izatullah Dawlatzai off another skier from him and Karim Sadiq taking one from Izatullah Dawlatzai for another catch by Karim Sadiq at slip off Izatullah Dawlatzai’s bowler.
England appeared poised for an easy win with nine overs remaining, but Afghanistan kept applying pressure with their poor fielding and lack of penetration. They eventually succumbed to Samit Patel and Finn’s barrage of deliveries – Finn trapping Buttler leg-before for 25. Afghanistan were bowled out for 80 in reply; Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India will likely finish above them; India are expected to advance all the way to a final with Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli expected in their squad.
2. Afghanistan vs. England 2015 World Cup
Afghanistan caused one of the greatest World Cup upsets ever as they outwitted England to claim their first-ever win at this competition. England were outclassed for 215 with less than 10 overs remaining and only Harry Brook showed any notable resistance with his 61-ball 66.
Afghanistan quickly took control of the game early, with Fazalhaq Farooqi trapping Jonny Bairstow lbw in the third over and Mujeeb Ur Rahman dismissing Joe Root with a quicker ball that kept low before hitting stumps. Ikram Alikhil hit three fours and two sixes in his 67-ball innings to help Afghanistan recover from an early collapse which saw them slip to 174-5 after 32.1 overs.
Mohammad Nabi claimed England’s final wicket by having Dawid Malan caught by Ibrahim Zadran at short cover – leaving them desperately needing 125 runs from 19 overs to win the match. England lost three wickets for nine runs which put them further in danger and required another innings win just to score enough runs from their remaining 19 overs to save themselves from further defeat.
Rashid Khan then picked up the key wicket of Chris Woakes, who played and missed consecutive deliveries before attempting to cut short delivery back into play for leg bye – thus forcing Liam Livingstone on to replace him and taking Zadran out quickly with 14 runs scored off it in just his first over.
3. Afghanistan vs. England 2016 World Cup
England were hoping to put behind them their slow start to World Cup campaign against Afghanistan when Fazalhaq Farooqi trapped Jonny Bairstow lbw and Mujeeb Ur Rahman struck with an awesome delivery that kept low and crashed through middle stump. Unfortunately for England though, these early setbacks would become huge setbacks as both players fell to Fazalhaq Farooqi who trap Jonny Bairstow lbw while Mujeeb Ur Rahman dismissed Jos Buttler with one such delivery that kept low and struck mid stump.
England faltered against spinners initially, scoring only a handful of runs in their opening ten overs before mounting an impressive comeback through middle order batsmen Ikram Alikhil top scoring with 58 and Dawid Malan and Joe Root both making significant contributions as their innings gained pace.
Mujeeb struck again in the 20th over to remove Alikhil for 61 and England soon lost their bearings. Harry Brook made an effort at one end, hitting sixes off Rashid before surviving an appeal against LBW review from Rashid; before Chris Woakes was caught off Naveen off an incorrect delivery and caught by Naveen off one ‘un.
But victory seemed out of reach even then; Mohammad Shahzad was dismissed after only three balls while Asghar Stanikzai followed shortly afterwards. Even then, victory seemed out of reach despite Samiullah Shenwari hitting Ben Stokes for six over long-on and Shafiullah smashing Jordan for four in an effort to restore some hope to their hosts before all out for 215 in 40.2 overs – an amazing 69 run loss for former champions Pakistan at this year’s World Cup so far; though 2010 runners-up Sri Lanka could make it to last four provided that both teams lose against South Africa on Friday if both will lose to South African oppositions.
4. Afghanistan vs. England 2017 World Cup
England were stunned by Afghanistan, who defeated them by an incredible margin of 69 runs to send shockwaves through the World Cup tournament and set England back significantly on their quest to qualify for quarter-finals. Afghanistan now have an uphill task ahead in reaching their target for quarter finals qualification.
England were bowled out for 215 with 9.3 overs remaining and only Harry Brook provided significant resistance with his 66-ball innings. The defeat puts England in danger of exiting their group stages and makes their next match against South Africa even more significant.
Mohammad Nabi continued his superb World Cup performance, dismissing Joe Root and Dawid Malan to put England in difficulty at 169-8. Mujeeb Ur Rahman provided another key wicket for Afghanistan; with his off break bowling removing Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid for even further anxiety in England’s camp.
Jos Buttler became the next England batsman to be dismissed when Naveen-ul-Haq used an elegant inswinging delivery from Nabi that darted through and struck Buttler off his stumps. Shortly afterwards, Nabi also dismissed David Willey with another delivery that gripped the pitch with its inswinging trajectory and came in from around three meters out – leaving only three runners on.
Gurbaz and Zadran were mainstays in Afghanistan’s innings, preferring to take their time on the crease before striking boundaries here and there. Gurbaz took on Chris Woakes with some aggressive shots; hitting him for two sixes within his first over.
5. Afghanistan vs. England 2018 World Cup
Afghanistan put on an astounding performance to defeat England by 69 runs in one of the greatest upsets ever seen at any World Cup competition so far. England were completely dismantled at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi by Afghanistan’s skilled bat and ball side.
England began well but quickly unravelled in the face of Afghanistan’s brutal aggression. Rahmanullah Gurbaz struck four sixes on his way to an unbeaten 80 but by then England were already bowled out for 215 in 40.3 overs, never enough for them to mount any meaningful challenge against Afghanistan’s superior numbers.
Afghanistan began their innings by employing pace duo Fazalhaq Farooqi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman who managed to keep England quiet in the powerplay overs. Farooqi dismissed Bairstow LBW on the first ball of the fourth over, followed by Joe Root being caught at mid-off the next over. Mujeeb struck again in the 35th over when he sent Woakes off LBW for review, before eventually dismissing Harry Brook for 66 off Mujeeb’s bowling.
Topley joined him and hit three consecutive boundaries to help England close the gap; but as wickets fell regularly, their hopes for an unlikely comeback quickly faded.
Mujeeb ultimately delivered the knockout blow as he removed Wood’s bails to end England’s innings at 215 in 40.3 overs, giving Bangladesh their chance at sixth place and forcing England out for 215 runs within 40.3 overs – their second loss so far at this year’s World Cup. England finished as sixth with one game remaining against them before facing Bangladesh next.
Also Read: bangladesh national cricket team vs england cricket team match scorecard
