Manchester: Afghanistan yet again failed to open their account in the ICC World Cup match tournament as England thrashed them by 150 runs here at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Earlier, after opting to bat first, Eoin Morgan (148 runs off 70 balls) Jonny Bairstow (90 runs off 98 balls) and Joe Root (88 runs off 81 balls), helped England to post a mammoth total of 397 runs against the visitors.
Captain Morgan was instrumental with the bat and scored 148 runs in just 71 balls, studded with 17 sixes and four boundaries. He registered his name in the record books courtesy his six barrage against the Afghans. In his knock of 148 runs, Morgan amassed 102 runs by hitting sixes only.
In reply, Afghanistan got off to a poor start, as they suffered their first loss in the 1.2 over when Noor Ali Zardan was sent to pavilion for a duck.
Gulbidan Naib and Rahmat Shah played a couple of shots and was almost going fine with the bat as they managed to add 48 runs, but unfortunately, in the 11.5 over Mark Wood struck and sent Naib to the pavilion on the score of 37 runs off 28 balls. Thus, the visitors lost their second wicket.
Shah with Hasmatullah Shahidi stitched a 52-runs-partnership for the third wicket. But ,before this partnership could go far, Adil Rashid broke it as he dismissed Shah on a score of 46 off 74 balls. However, Shahidi presence on the crease gave visitors a hope but it too couldn't survive for long as Asghar Afghan (44) walked back to the hut after adding 94 runs for the fourth wicket with Shahidi.(UNI)