England out of Champions Trophy after Afghanistan thriller

Champions Trophy, Lahore

Afghanistan 325-7 (50 overs): Ibrahim 177, Archer 3-64

England 317 (49.5 overs): Root 120, Azmatullah 5-58

By eight runs, Afghanistan won.

A nerve-wracking eight-run defeat by Afghanistan in Lahore saw England eliminated from the Champions Trophy.

Joe Root threatened to save his side from the brink, but he did, as others fell on him in search of a 326, he hit a superb 120.

But, battling cramp by the end, Root was caught with 39 runs needed from 26 balls as Afghanistan, who would have also been out with defeat, came roaring back.

England should still have won, but with three wickets to go, Jamie Overton hit long-on for 32. They needed 17 from 14 balls to win.

In the penultimate over, Jofra Archer made it 14 before Adil Rashid and Mark Wood, who were the final two, rose 13 places.

As England were dismissed for 317, Rashid was caught at long-off off the penultimate delivery and he only managed singles from the first four balls.

With a sensational 177 from 146 balls, Ibrahim Zadran’s stunning bowling performance put them in jeopardy of a miserable bowling performance where they lost all control.

England defeated Wood 37-3 in the ninth over, but England eventually won the match by conceding 108 in the final nine, which was ultimately decided.

The thousands of Afghan fans inside the Lahore stadium were dancing in the aisles after the final catch was taken.

Australia’s three-game victory over England on this ground demonstrated four nights ago that the country’s target was on the verge of chasing.

However, it turned out that this team’s numerous runs under this pressure always felt too much. The pain will only get worse because they are so close.

Root took the game onto his shoulders and had it back to his team until he gloved an upper cut off seamer Azmatullah Omarzai with help from the rest of the top order before falling back to his feet.

England would have been the norm in the white-ball world prior to today’s game, but it has since been a complete failure. Any aura built under Eoin Morgan has drained away over a miserable 18-month period, however.

After failing to defend the 2023, 50-over World Cup, and the T20 version of the 2024 World Cup, Captain Jos Buttler admitted on Tuesday that the outcome and defeat would determine his future as captain. This is his third successive poor white-ball tournament, and he is under enormous pressure.

Since taking over as coach in January, Brendon McCullum has had no luck altering England’s fortunes, but he will have some time to try to turn things around.

The threat was supposed to be from Afghanistan’s spinners, just as it did when they won the World Cup against England in Delhi 16 months ago.

Instead, it was seamer Azmatullah who finished with figures of 5-58.

Before Jamie Smith attempted to slog the first ball of spin in the innings, which was bowled by Mohammad Nabi, he was caught for nine and was taken off with a bail-trimmer for the team’s disappointing slide.

That brought in Root, who was superb. As Harry Brook was caught and bowled by Nabi for 25, Buttler top-edged to a deep square leg and Liam Livingstone cut a cut on 10, but he limited risks and repeatedly knocked the ball into the leg side to counterspin.

When Overton arrived, he proved to be a useful companion to Root, scoring 93 runs out of 68 balls.

Root was clearly frustrated when he was caught, but he showed little emotion when he reached his century in 98 deliveries.

Given how they had already begun, England improved the outcome.

In the first four overs, Wood and Archer combined to bowl Rahmanullah Gurbaz for Sediqullah Atal in the fifth over, scoring just 11 runs. England had taken three powerplay wickets for the first time in 14 ODIs when Rahmat Shah was soon substituted for four by Archer.

However, Ibrahim led a patient rebuild after Wood limped off with a knee problem after tumbling in his fourth over. In a partnership of 103 balls from 124 balls, he and Shahidi’s skipper, Hashmatullah Shahidi, milked England’s change bowlers until Rashid bowled the sweeping Shahidi.

England still held the upper hand in the 30th despite going 140-4, but they lost all hope of it at this point.

As Wood returned from a 4.4.2 overs which cost him 37 and gave Archer the most expensive over of his ODI career, Ibrahim broke loose in a partnership of 111 in 9.1 overs with veteran Mohammad Nabi, who made 40 from 24.

Root was given the bowl of Root’s 47th over when Livingstone reached the field, where his first delivery was flogged over by Nabi mid-wicket for six, followed by another parried over the rope by Salt for another before a poor misfield from Duckett let through four more as England wilted.

A six off Archer, which was the previous highest Champions Trophy score, allowed Ibrahim to surpass Duckett’s 165 from four nights earlier, when he hit Ibrahim with a straight boundary.

After being caught off Livingstone’s first ball of the 50th over at deep square leg, he had already done the damage.

Ex-England spinner Vic Marks: “This is probably an unpopular opinion but if you do not play any 50-over cricket other than internationally, you probably won’t be very good at it.

” Look at Joe Root, who played the perfect 50-over innings. But the bowlers, they are not used to bowling 10 overs if you are basing your team on T20 form and experience.

“It comes down to concentration, too. If you can get things going this winter, like Phil Salt, you can tell you can do it in the T20. Losing early wickets puts the rest of the batting order under a lot of pressure, but if that keeps happening in ODIs,

” It is a very, very different game to T20 cricket and you have to go about it differently – I don’t think many of England’s players recognise that. “

England captain Jos Buttler:” To be eliminated from the tournament, it’s really disappointing. Another fantastic game, where we had our chances. We’re gutted to come out the other side. “

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi:” As a team we are happy. I’m confident that everyone will enjoy themselves. We’ll look towards the the next game.