World Cup 2015 Match 38 Group A England vs Afghanistan; Real chance for Afghans to win

World Cup 2015 Match 38 Group A England vs Afghanistan; Real chance for Afghans to win:

Date: 13 March 2015       Time: 0900 IST
Venue: Sydney

Afghanistan

Afghanistan team was bowled out for 186 by New Zealand in their last match and was taken to cleaners in their match against Australia. Afghanistan did give a good fight to New Zealand, but the score on the board was not enough. Now they have England in front of them in their last match in this World Cup 2015 campaign and they would love to win the match to end on a high.

They need their bowling to come through as it is their strong suit. England have not been in bets of the form, so Afghanistan have a decent and real chance of beating them. Afghanistan can only hope that they win the toss and bat first to put up a respectable score on the board. They will need all the help from their in-form batsmen like Stanikzai, Mangal, Shenwari to put the fragile England attack under pressure.

The Afghan bowlers should have watched how Bangladesh bowlers bowled to England and would have picked pointers to do the same.

England

England have been dismal to say the least in this World Cup. They have lost to every big nation in their group and even got defeated by Bangladesh in their last match and were knocked out of the World Cup 2015 in the group stage. This concludes one of the most disappointing performances by a Test team in this World Cup. Their last match against Afghanistan will give them some chance to get back a little respect.

Their batting has gone from worst to totally out of form; their bowling is still stuck where it was at the start of the World Cup. They might think of playing an extra spinner on the slow Sydney pitch which assists slow bowlers. James Anderson has been impressive along with Finn, but has got no support from Broad. Their only back up has been Chris Woakes who has been picking up wickets with his line and length bowling technique. They will be up against a spirited Afghanistan who would want to win the match to end their wonderful campaign on a high.

English batting has to click into the 4th gear and they need contributions from their lower order in order to post big scores. Ian Bell, Moeen Ali, Joe Root and James Taylor have done their best to keep England alive in the tournament, but it has been the non-existent form of their biggest stroke maker Captain Eoin Morgan that has been plaguing them the most. His no form means atleast a deficit of 40-60 runs in their final total and no nitro boost at the end of the innings.

Last 5 ODIs:
AFG: L L L L L
Eng: L L W L L

Possible playing XI:
England: Moeen Ali, Ian Bell, Joe Root, James Taylor, Eoin Morgan (C), Jos Buttler (WK), Ravi Bopara, Chris Woakes, Steven Finn, Stuart Board, James Anderson

Afghanistan: Mohammad Nabi (c), Afsar Zazai (wk), Aftab Alam, Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zadran, Mirwais Ashraf, Najibullah Zadran, Nawroz Mangal, Samiullah Shenwari, Shapoor Zadran, Hamid Hassan.