🏏 Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #13: England vs Afghanistan 🏏 - Page 3

Rooty 83 more needed ( 18 innings 5 50's & 3 hundred @57.31) to become 1st englishmen with 1000 World cup runs

Thanks for the tag Madhu!

May the best team win.

Cheers..

Good afternoon, welcome to Match #13 of the Cricket World Cup... unlucky for someone, you'd have to assume. It's England versus Afghanistan in Delhi, and the toss is coming up in about half an hour.

Matt Roller is braced by the boundary's edge, watching the preparations unfold. "Hello from the Kotla/Jaitley," he says. "It's a warm day but not as hot as the past couple of days, hint of breeze coming through. England likely to be unchanged based on what I've seen so far: all four seamers have marked their run-ups and there's no sign of Ben Stokes yet. He had a long hit in the nets last night but it looks like England will keep him in cotton wool before their game against South Africa at the Wankhede next weekend."

In fact, there's an update to that already: "Stokes ambling out to the middle now," Matt adds. "But doesn't have the look of a man who is about to play a World Cup match."

Ben Stokes has shown encouraging signs of recovery and has trained well, but England could well still keep him underwraps ahead of their marquee encounter against South Africa on Saturday. Chris Woakes was down with a stomach bug, but has since recovered. England do have David Willey in the reserves if they do deem fit to make a change. On the other hand, there are no injuries to report from the Afghan camp and any changes could only be tactical.

Team News - Ben Stokes has shown encouraging signs of recovery and has trained well, but England could well still keep him underwraps ahead of their marquee encounter against South Africa on Saturday. Chris Woakes was down with a stomach bug, but has since recovered. England do have David Willey in the reserves if they do deem fit to make a change. On the other hand, there are no injuries to report from the Afghan camp and any changes could only be tactical.

Mohammed Nabi, who off-side playing in his 150th ODI, has been presented with a plaque. Can he make the occassion sweter with a win over England? The twi teams haven't faced each other outside the WC and the 2 meeing in the quadrangular extragavanza has gone in favour of the English.

It's a warm day but not as hot as the past couple of days, hint of breeze coming through. England likely to be unchanged based on what I've seen so far: all four seamers have marked their run-ups and there's no sign of Ben Stokes yet. He had a long hit in the nets last night but it looks like England will keep him in cotton wool before their game against South Africa at the Wankhede next weekend

England, a powerhouse in the world of cricket, enters this encounter as one of the tournament favourites. Renowned for their aggressive style of play and strong batting lineup, they have consistently been a force to be reckoned with in previous World Cup editions. The likes of Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Jos Buttler will be instrumental in England's bid to secure victory and cement their dominance in the tournament.

On the other side of the pitch, Afghanistan is a team that has rapidly risen through the ranks of international cricket. With an array of talented spin bowlers and formidable hitters, they have the potential to deliver upsets and make a strong statement in the competition. Players like Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi are expected to play pivotal roles in Afghanistan's strategy to challenge more established teams.

Prakash Govindasreenivasan is up and early at the ground and he sends us this bit of news. 'Not much clarity on Stokes's availability from Joe Root's presser yesterday. Root said he 'trained well' on Friday. On both Friday and Saturday, he had long nets session but only took throwdowns. He moved a lot better in the nets yesterday than he did in Dharamsala last week but he still didn't seem 100% fit. Another doubt was Woakes because he missed Friday through illness. But he was back yesterday and is out bowling on the side right now

Prakash Govindasreenivasan is up and early at the ground and he sends us this bit of news. 'Not much clarity on Stokes's availability from Joe Root's presser yesterday. Root said he 'trained well' on Friday. On both Friday and Saturday, he had long nets session but only took throwdowns. He moved a lot better in the nets yesterday than he did in Dharamsala last week but he still didn't seem 100% fit. Another doubt was Woakes because he missed Friday through illness. But he was back yesterday and is out bowling on the side right now'