The ICC Cricket World Cup heads back to Delhi on Sunday as the tournament calms down once again after the high profile clash between India and Pakistan on Saturday. This time it is the turn of Afghanistan and England to do battle.
Afghanistan have begun their tournament with a couple of defeats so need to get off the mark here whereas England rescued a dodgy start last time out and will be looking to press on and make a big impression on the tournament from here on in.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan went into this tournament hopeful of a good run rather than many judges expecting them to deliver one and we’ve seen why in their opening two matches. They can’t seem to get on top of the opposition early enough or for long enough when they have the bat in their hand in the 50 over sphere and that has cost them twice already. Those losses were one thing but the margin of them really hasn’t done themselves any favours.
If Afghanistan are going to be relevant in any way in this competition, or even competitive in it, then they have to find some big runs in their top order and learn how to put a complete innings together. I still think their bowling can get the job done for them if they have enough runs to work with but that hasn’t been the case so far. This is one game where Afghanistan have nothing to lose though as few would expect them to get anything from the defending champions.
England
England were as good in their second match as they were bad in their first game and the test for them for the remainder of this tournament is to be consistently good. When they are good they are a very tough team to beat but when they come off it they can unravel quite quickly and make life difficult for themselves. This is one of those matches where England can’t really win even if they get the job done given the status of Afghanistan in this format.
If England are going to go on and make a successful defence of the title then they are going to need to ensure their bowling is up to scratch throughout the remainder of the tournament. They were abject with the ball in their opening game and in unfavourable conditions their attack does have a tendency to go around the park so as fearsome as their batting is, teams will feel they can get after this England side.
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Team News
Afghanistan have Noor Ahmad waiting in the wings to come into the side but a flat deck in Delhi probably isn’t the time to unleash him. That means that they could go in with an unchanged side despite two successive defeats.
England have a fitness doubt over Chris Woakes for this match so David Willey might play his first game of the tournament while Mark Wood rarely plays three games in succession so Gus Atkinson could come in for him. Ben Stokes is fit again but might be saved for sterner tests.
Betting
All the talk is that we have a similar pitch to the one which South Africa and Sri Lanka played out that high scoring match earlier in the competition on this ground so I’m expecting the see the ball do a fair bit of flying and the bowlers to really struggle. Afghanistan have the luxury of having played here already in this competition so they will know what to expect whereas conditions here should suit England with their batters likely to be able to dominate.
We have seen the ball fly into the crowd a fair bit in Delhi so far in this tournament and I’m not seeing why that won’t continue on Sunday. England have plenty of big hitters for whom this ground certainly isn’t going to be big enough but Afghanistan took the Indian attack for seven sixes here last week so you have to think the England one will go a bit. That makes me think a 12.5 sixes line is a touch on the low side and I’m happy to be on the over as a result of that. This is the sort of line where if certain England players get going they could even cover themselves but I’m comfortable with Afghanistan contributing to the total.
Tips
Back Over 12.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with William Hill
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