Betting Tips England v Afghanistan

Preview England v Afghanistan

After convincing wins against Bangladesh and the West Indies, England will look to continue the sequence against lowly Afghanistan and then Sri Lanka as they draw near to securing a place in the semi-finals of this World Cup. However, despite their poor start to this tournament, Afghanistan are not a team to be taken lightly and Eoin Morgan has been keen to stress that his side understands the threat posed by the opposition in all of his press appearances since victory against WI on Friday.

The Venue - Old Trafford, Manchester

While on paper this fixture looks like a fairly straight forward one for the hosts, the fact that they are playing on a used pitch that already showed signs of spin when India bowled on it this Sunday will give Afghanistan some hope that they can be more than just competitive here.

Kuldeep Yadav finds some turn on this pitch to dismiss Babar Azam and trigger a collapse

I’ve no doubt that Rashid Khan, the number 3 ranked bowler in the world in ODI cricket, will feel that if Kuldeep Yadav can get that kind of purchase from the pitch then he will be able to trouble England’s batsmen too. The big question for Afghanistan will be can they exert pressure from both ends in the way that India did for large parts of the Pakistani innings so that Rashid Khan can bowl an aggressive line and length for his 10 overs?

As for England, they will be hoping that their own spinners can have just as big an influence on the game if the pitch does turn and in doing so play themselves back into form for the later stages of this tournament when the used pitches may well offer the slower bowlers some assistance. Neither Moeen or Rashid are having particularly good summers thus far with the later being yet another injury concern for England with a sore shoulder that is affecting his ability to bowl the googly with quite as much venom as usual.

Rashid and Moeen's ODI bowling figures so far this summer. Neither player has been having much impact for England

Where England have been very strong in this tournament so far is in the fast bowling department with everyone having chipped in with wickets at some point. The injuries to Morgan and Roy mean that Moeen Ali's inclusion in the team is not likely to come at the expense of one of those fast bowlers. While the Old Trafford pitch didn't look to have any great venom in it we have already seen during the warm-up game on a fairly sedate looking Oval wicket that England had too much firepower for this Afghan team.

Form Guide

Afghanistan's go to plan in this World Cup appears to be all out attack via their 2 openers Zazai and Shahzad but with the later having returned home injured perhaps that will temper their ambitions a little while also preserving a few more wickets for later in the innings. Indeed, Afghanistan have the unenviable record of having been bowled out in all 4 of their innings thus far only having made it past the 40 over mark once. We know that if they can get a par score on the board that they have the bowlers to cause the opposition some trouble but in reality, they have been a good hundred runs short of those kinds of totals in most matches so far.

 
Afghanistan have suffered catastrophic collapses in all their games to date.

By contrast, England have been consistent in delivering at least 1 hundred run partnership in all 4 of their matches so far in this tournament. They set a new World Cup record by becoming the first team to score 300+ in 3 consecutive innings prior to the West Indies game where they surely would have continued that sequence had the opposition had enough quality to keep the game going that long! But for a lacklustre performance in the field against Pakistan, the host nation have been ruthless in dispatching lesser opposition to date.

England have recorded 5 100+ partnerships in the tournament thus far

On an individual level, the England top 6 have contributed to the run getting with each of Bairstow, Roy, Root, Morgan, Stokes and Buttler having scored at least a half-century in the tournament, a record that no other side can match. Of course, the challenge for England in this game will be for the likes of James Vince and Moeen Ali to come into the side and continue that good form.

With Eoin Morgan refusing to rule out a recall for the disgraced Alex Hales, this match represents a terrific opportunity for James Vince to stake his claim to replace Jason Roy in the side for at least this and the next game against Sri Lanka. Beyond that it also gives Vince a chance to prove the doubters wrong and show that he deserves a place at the highest level within the national team's set-up. There is no doubting the man's ability and there are few batsmen who are so aesthetically pleasing in their play than the Hampshire captain and yet he has continued to frustrate in all forms of cricket at international level by not making the kind of big scores we have seen him notch up on the domestic circuit. Could this finally be his time? At the age of 28 and with plenty of white ball talent coming through the system, it's tempting to say it's now or never for Vince.

Vince has got himself in on countless occassions but has failed to go and get a big score. His ODI record to date is below that

Predictions

Although as an England supporter part of me is slightly concerned about the turning pitch and our injury crisis, I can't see Afghanistan having enough to resist this England sides power. As we saw against the West Indies, the shuffling of the batting line-up gave other players an opportunity to stake a claim for later in the tournament as well as potentially the Ashes series that follows and as such I'm backing England to win and Vince to make a contribution.

I'd expect that Afghanistan will start with spin against England and It probably means a slow, cautious start for the openers. Rashid Khan @2.0 to take a couple of wickets looks like pretty decent value on this pitch.

Current World Cup Betting Record

My ROI was bumped up largely thanks to 6 wins out of 8 live betting on the India v Pakistan match. It could have been 8 out of 8 had Kohli not have walked and instead gone on to hit a 6 and lead India to a score of 345+

Bets 53

Wins 34

ROI +15.34%