England have won the toss and elected to bat first in a batting friendly track at Manchester. Can England play the Afghanistan premium spinners well is yet another question. The pitch at Manchester looks dry and good for batting but it’s better for spin as well. Spinning track will suit Afghanistan bowlers a lot and it needs for England to play out 20 to 25 overs of spin. If they play better against Afghanistan bowlers then they can even score 350 and above.
Well, Afghanistan is not a low level team as it’s assumed and they might do better on their day. Leaving Zimbabwe behind as the world cup has been played without Zimbabwe making into top 10. This is the 24th match and there will be a full match as weather is good. Can England score over 400 in this match? They can but they need an opening stand of 100 plus in the first 10 overs. There upon they can build their innings far too much. As England knows they’re much better side than Afghanistan, they will play attacking cricket and can lose wickets. Cricket is funny game and an upset looks to happen as such Afghanistan coming up with surprise win.
Can England play even better to score more than 400 runs; as in 2019 it will be the highest score. Yes England needs to play better against the minnows, who rank 10 in ODIs. At Manchester the pitch looks good for batting and better for spinners too.
Let’s see what might happen in the first hour of play. Can England keep their winning streak at peak to come closer towards Semi Finals? They lost only one match and that was against Pakistan. But after that they’re playing much better cricket even though some key players are injured.
Khalid M Raza
