Hampshire star misses out as hosts crush Afghanistan
Captain Morgan blasts new record after Vince fails to make most of Word Cup debut
JAMES VINCE will be ruing an opportunity missed after England thrashed Afghanistan by 150 runs in the ICC World Cup yesterday.
The Hampshire skipper – drafted in to open the batting in place of the injured Jason Roy – contributed only 26 of the host nation’s 397 for six at Old Trafford.
Having already been dropped, the 28-year-old topedged a pull to short fine leg where Mujeeb Ur Rahman took a simple catch.
Vince then had to sit back and watch Jonny Bairstow (90) and Joe Root (88) cash in against the tournament minnows before a recordbreaking onsalught from Eoin Morgan.
The skipper’s 71-ball 148 featured 17 sixes – a new best for a one-day international innings.
Jofra Archer (three for 52), Adil Rashid (three for 66) and Mark Wood (two for 40) then picked up wickets as England restricted Aghanistan to 247 for eight to hit the summit of the round-robin table.
Roy is not expected to shake off a hamstring problem until next Tuesday’s Australia clash – at the very earliest.
That means Vince will have another chance to shine when England take on Sri Lanka at Headingley on Friday.
His skipper, meanwhile, was simply delighted to rack up another comprehensive win.
Man-of-the-match Morgan told Sky Sports: ‘It was a fantastic day for us.
‘I managed to have a day out, which was great, but I thought everything was very good.
‘Afghanistan started really well and bowled well the first 10 overs.
‘Our openers began well and then we built a partnership with Bairstow and Root.
‘From there we managed to take a bit of a gamble and it paid off.
‘It was a good day all round and we are delighted with the win.’
Morgan had been a doubt for the clash after suffering a back spasm in the win over the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl on Friday.
He added: ‘I didn’t think at any stage it was going to be my day.
‘I’m getting quite old, hobbling about with a bad back.
‘I never thought in my wildest dreams I could do something like that, so it makes it a bit more special.
‘We are where we want to be (top of the table) but we don’t want to slack off.
‘I thought we were at the top of our game yesterday and if we can bring that to Headingley against Sri Lanka and then on to Lord’s against Australia, we’ll be in a good place.’
Today’s fixture sees unbeaten New Zealand take on South Africa at Edgbaston (10.30am).