Afghanistan vs England, Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, Perth, England win it by 5 wickets

Perth, The Gulf Observer: England 113 for 5 (Livingstone 29*) beat Afghanistan 112 (Curran 5-10) by five wickets.

England’s World Cup campaign is up and running thanks to a five-wicket victory over Afghanistan.

It was very much a performance of two halves for one of the tournament favourites. They were outstanding in the field, vindicating Jos Buttler’s decision to bowl first by dismissing Afghanistan for 112 with a stellar hand from Sam Curran of 5 for 10, becoming the first Englishman to take a T20I five-for.

But a stuttering chase took the gloss off what could have been a complete performance. They were 65 for 3 at one stage in the 11th over, only managing to clear the fence once and in turn missing the chance to rubber stamp this win with a significant net run rate boost.