World Cup 2015 Match 38 Group A Afghanistan v England Review; England end with a win

World Cup 2015 Match 38 Group A Afghanistan v England Review; England end with a win: England ended their World Cup campaign with a win against Afghanistan in a rain curtailed match.

England made Afghanistan bat after winning the toss and Afghanistan were 111/7 in 36.2 overs when rain interrupted their innings and finally ended it. Afghanistan were 4/34 before Shafiqullah (30), Nasir Jamal (17) brought some runs with them. Finally at 111/7 rain came pouring down and the umpires after waiting for rain to cease, called the innings off. English bowlers looked in form with Chris Jordan (2/13) and Ravi Bopara taking 2/31.

England were given a total of 101 form 25 overs after rains stopped using D/L method. England lost Alex Hales on 37 when England were 83 in 13 overs. Ian Bell (52) then avoided further casualties and took England home with 9 wickets to spare in 18 overs.

The match that was supposed to be a dead rubber turned out to a deader rubber due to rain. England who would have hoped for some pride and retribution got it in form of a win, but they will be still disappointed with their performance in the World Cup. They didn’t win a single game against a Test nation and suffered heavy defeats at the hands of New Zealand and Australia, while Bangladesh straight down humiliated them.

Afghanistan on the other hand had a wonderful tournament, winning their first World Cup match against Scotland. They took Sri Lanka to the wire and have shown that given enough exposure, they can become the next big associate team like Ireland or Kenya once was. So they have to ask for more exposure in international circuits playing teams like Ireland, Scotland, Zimbabwe on regular basis.

Chris Jordan was named man of the match for his fast bowling spell.

Brief Score:
Afghanistan 111/7 36.1 overs (Shafiaqullah 30, Nasir 17; C Jordan 2/13) lost to England 101/1 in 18.1 overs (I Bell 52, A Hales 37; H Hassan 1/17) by 9 wickets using D/L method.