History made as Curran takes five
SAM Curran made England history with figures of five for 10 to help his side get off to a winning start at the T20 World Cup as they overcame Afghanistan in Perth.
Curran has developed into a reliable option at the death and his four wickets in six balls polished off Afghanistan for 112 in 19.4 overs as he became the first England bowler to claim a five-for in T20s.
England made hard work of the total, stifled by Afghanistan’s vaunted spinners, but the returning Liam Livingstone’s unbeaten 29 off 21 balls helped to secure a five-wicket win with 11 deliveries to spare.
Afghanistan were on 82 for three after 14 overs but collapsed dramatically, as Ben Stokes finished with two for 19 while Mark Wood also collected two wickets and averaged 92.6mph – the fastest four-over bowling performance in this tournament’s history.
The absence of Reece Topley to a tournament-ending ankle injury this week did not impact England here and they may have been grateful for going batter-heavy in selecting both Livingstone and Harry Brook in a stuttering run-chase, with Chris Woakes passed fit. After
England won the toss, Stokes opened the bowling but Wood made the breakthrough with his first delivery as Rahmanullah Gurbaz was caught on the crease and tickled through to Buttler.
Afghanistan were going nowhere fast and their cause was not helped as Livingstone took a blinder, running in from deep point and swooping to pouch a low chance to see off Hazratullah Zazai for seven.
Curran had his first as an off-cutter was miscued by Ibrahim, who top-scored for Afghanistan with a run-a-ball 32 after Moeen took a catch over his shoulder, while Najibullah Zadran departed after Rashid took a low chance to give Stokes another wicket.
England captain Buttler took a leaping catch to see off Mohammad Nabi, who gloved behind off Wood.
Curran had two in two as Azmatullah Omarzai and Rashid Khan were caught in the deep and, while the left-arm seamer missed out on a hat-trick, he had three wickets in four balls when Usman Ghani slashed to deep backward point.
Curran then wrapped up the innings when last man Fazalhaq
Farooqi picked out Dawid Malan.
Buttler took authoritative fours in each of the first three overs of England’s chase but perished for a runa-ball 18 after flicking Farooqi to deep midwicket, moments after Hales was dropped on four.
England were in the driving seat on 40 for one after the powerplay but the brakes were put on by spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who had Hales spilled again off his bowling on 17.
Hales’ luck ran out as he pulled to deep backward square-leg for 19, Stokes was beaten for pace as he charged at off-spinner Nabi and was bowled through the gate, while the Afghanistan captain dived to snaffle Malan, out for 18 off 30 balls in a becalmed innings which did not feature a single boundary.
Livingstone was busy at the crease and took back-to-back offside fours off Fareed Ahmad but Brook slammed to long-on in Rashid’s final over as the leg-spinner finished with one for 17.
Livingstone and Moeen took no risks from that point forwards, rotating the strike to get England over the line. They next take on Ireland in Melbourne on Wednesday.