England seal comfortable win over Afghanistan after Eoin Morgan heroics
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England faced Afghanistan in the Cricket World Cup at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
England are finally hitting form at this tournament with Friday's eight-wicket win over the West Indies coming fresh from a thrashing of Bangladesh early last week. And they continued their fine run with Eoin Morgan the star of the show with a record-breaking hundred in a comfortable win over the tournament minnows.
Here's how it played out.
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Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of England vs Afghanistan at Old Trafford.
The hosts are on a roll and will be looking to cement their top four place with a win over the tournament minnows.
They'll have to keep their wits about them, however, and will do so without the injured Jason Roy.
Stay with us for all the latest throughout the day.
Morning morning.
Another potential banana skin for England to negotiate, then, as they continue to plot their route into the top-four.
It's a used pitch that spun on Sunday, and Afghanistan's strength in that regard should offer an intriguing test for England's batting order.
Eoin Morgan IS FIT, and out in the middle for the toss with Gulbadin Naib...
Jason Roy misses out for England with that hamstring tear, with James Vince in.
Liam Plunkett has had a stomach complaint and also drops out, with England bringing back Moeen Ali with the pitch expected to turn.
"It looks a really good wicket," Eoin Morgan notes. "It played well the other day."
THREE changes for Afghanistan, with Dawlat Zadran, Najibullah Zadran and Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the side by the sounds of things. Plenty of spin options. We'll confirm those teams in a moment.
Jason Roy's hamstring tear is a real concern for England, who have not yet confirmed the severity of the injury, but have effectively ruled him out of both this game and Friday's clash with Sri Lanka with a view to getting him back amongst things for the Australia game next week.
A big opportunity for James Vince, who will open in Roy's absence.
It sounds like Afghanistan have dropped Hazratullah Zazai (boo!), Hamid Hassan (double boo!) and Aftab Alam (makes a lot of sense).
An opener and two seamers out. Muddled thinking, you'd think.
Team News - Afghanistan
Those changes have been confirmed, and captain Gulbadin Naib is down on the card to open, which would be an odd move.
1 Noor Ali Zadran, 2 Gulbadin Naib (capt), 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi, 5 Asghar Afghan, 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Ikram Alikhil (wk), 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 11 Dawlat Zadran
The World Cup thus far has been disastrous for Afghanistan. Tipped by many as a side not to be taking lightly, issues both on and off the field have handicapped their campaign. Naib's installation as captain prior to the tournament was not met warmly by the playing group with Asghar Afghan carrying plenty of good will, while Mohammad Shahzad has publicly decried the decision to remove him from the squad after a minor injury.
There have been rumours of interventions in terms of selections from people away from the team and the on-field product has been, well, woeful. Still, we cannot forget just how remarkable a story their rise has been, and with Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman they might just have the bowlers to put England in something of a spin today.
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