England vs Afghanistan, ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, Today Match Prediction 18 Jun 2019

eng vs afg Match Prediction & Analysis

England is on a roll winning their matches against South Africa, West Indies and Bangladesh by big margins. They suffered a shock defeat against Pakistan team by 14 runs. Opener Jason Roy suffered a minor injury and did not bat in the last match against West Indies. Joe Root has been in scintillating form scoring runs with ease and already has two centuries in this World Cup.

Jos Butler, Eoin Morgan, and Ben Stokes performed well with the bat whenever they have batted and are amongst the runs. Jofra Archer has been their best bowler this tournament with 9 wickets. Mark Wood and Chris Woakes are bowling to their potential and are taking wickets consistently. Adil Rashid has been the lone frontline spinner in the team with Moeen Ali left out of the playing XI. Joe Root`s part-time off-spinners were mighty effective last match taking two crucial wickets in middle overs. 

Afghanistan team is the only team yet to score points in the points table and is languishing at the bottom with four losses. Najibullah Zadran and Hashamatulah Shahidi are the only batsmen to score half-centuries so far. All the other batsmen are scoring just 20s and 30s which are not making any big contribution to the team`s total. No batsmen in their team have a total run tally of 100 runs after 4 completed matches tell the story of their batting unit. They have been bowled out for less than 200 runs ruining the effectiveness of their bowling unit.

Mohammed Nabi bowled an excellent spell of 4/30 against Sri Lanka which bowled them out for just 207 runs. Rashid Khan is not very effective with his leg spinners in the English pitches. Aftab Alam and Hamid Hassan have bowled well in patches and are not consistent with their line and lengths. 

TEAMS PREVIEW

England Preview

Key Players:

Jason Roy – Jason Roy is a destructive batsman who can score big centuries at the top. He scored a massive 153 runs against Bangladesh and laid a platform for his team to post a massive total of 386 runs.   

Mark Wood – Mark Wood has been troubling batsmen with his extra pace and extracting steep bounce from the surface. He has taken 7 wickets in just 3 matches and his ability to bowl in the middle overs will serve well for the team. 

Recent Stats

Joe Root - 279 runs, Avg. -93, Strike rate – 98, HS -107, 100s -2

Jofra Archer – 9 wickets, Economy – 4.7 RPO, BB -3/27 

England Predicted Playing XI:

Eoin Morgan(C), Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (Wk), Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer

England Actual Playing XI:

Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Mark Wood, AU Rashid, Moeen Ali, Eoin Morgan, James Vince, Jofra Chioke Archer, Ben Stokes, CR Woakes

Afghanistan Preview

Key Players:

Hazaratullah Zazai – Hazaratullah Zazai came to the 2019 World Cup with a big reputation but failed to perform in the international stage. He has scores of 22, 34 & 30 in last three outings but failed to make a big score after the starts. 

Aftab Alam – Aftab Alam has bowled well with the new ball and certainly troubled the batsmen early on. He took 3 wickets in their match against New Zealand and bowled a decent spell of 5-1-16-0 in their last match against South Africa. 

Recent Stats 

Najibullah Zadran - 98 runs, Avg. -33, Strike rate – 91, HS -51, 50s -1

Mohammed Nabi – 4 wickets, Economy – 4.4 RPO, BB -4/30 

Afghanistan Predicted Playing XI:

Hazratullah Zazai, Noor Ali Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Gulbadin Naib (c), Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Ali khil (wk), Rashid Khan, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan

Afghanistan Actual Playing XI:

Ikram Ali Khil, Noor Ali Zadran, Asghar Afghan, Gulbadin Naib, Dawlat Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, N Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rahmat Shah

Weather Conditions

Manchester pitch has traditionally favored the pace bowlers but the current pitch is a little bit brown which indicates spinners may enjoy good purchase here. We can expect scores in the range of 260-280 runs in this pitch. The match day weather promises to be cloudy and overcast with 20% chances of rain. 

Toss: WIN the toss, BOWL First

Both captains will look to take advantage of the seaming pitch early in the match. They will look to put the opposition batsmen in the tougher conditions. And chasing has been the best option in the recent matches.