One change for England as senior quick bowler is preferred over Pennington and Potts

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jul-2024Mark Wood has been recalled to England’s attack in place of the retired James Anderson as the only change to their XI for the second Test against West Indies at Trent Bridge, which begins on Thursday.Wood, England’s fastest bowler, was not available for the Lord’s Test, having only just returned to the country after the completion of England’s T20 World Cup campaign in the Caribbean, in which he claimed three wickets in five appearances. He has not yet played a first-class match for Durham this season.However, Wood was added to the squad in the wake of England’s innings-and-114-run victory in the first Test at Lord’s, and will slot back into the XI, having featured in three of England’s five Tests in India earlier this year.This will be the first time that England have played a home Test without either Anderson or Stuart Broad in their XI since 2012, and only the second since 2007. Anderson spent Tuesday at Trent Bridge in his new role as England’s bowling coach, following his farewell appearance at Lord’s.Wood’s inclusion means that Matthew Potts and Dillon Pennington will have to wait for their opportunities, having been original inclusions in England’s squad for the first two Tests, as named by the selectors last month.James Anderson started his new role in England’s coaching staff•Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images

Potts, who impressed with 23 wickets in his first six Tests in 2022 and 2023, has not featured for England since the Ireland Test at Lord’s last June, while Pennington is yet to make his Test debut.The selection of Wood follows the success enjoyed by another 90mph seamer, Gus Atkinson, who claimed match figures of 12 for 106, the fourth-best by a debutant in Test history, in last week’s win at Lord’s.Shoaib Bashir, England’s offspinner, did not bowl in the Lord’s Test, his first home appearance for his country, but retains his place at Nottingham.England XI: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Gus Atkinson, 10 Mark Wood, 11 Shoaib Bashir

Allrounder was due to play Birmingham Phoenix’s final two group games but has been withdrawn

Matt Roller12-Aug-2024The ECB have pulled Chris Woakes out of the final week of the Hundred “due to the management of his workload” ahead of England’s Test series against Sri Lanka next week.Woakes was initially expected to play Birmingham Phoenix’s final two group-stage matches in the Hundred, against Trent Rockets (Monday) and Manchester Originals (Thursday), both at Edgbaston. But the Phoenix announced on Monday that he had been made “unavailable for the remainder of the competition”.England denied that Woakes’ withdrawal from the Hundred is linked to the hamstring injury that Ben Stokes, their Test captain, suffered while playing for Northern Superchargers on Sunday night, indicating that the decision had been made before that match. But if Stokes is ruled out of the Sri Lanka series as anticipated, Woakes is likely to play a greater role as England’s main allrounder.Stokes is due to undergo a scan on his hamstring on Tuesday after limping off the field and retiring hurt during the Superchargers’ win over Manchester Originals on Sunday night. He ended the night on crutches and Harry Brook, the Superchargers’ captain, said that the injury “doesn’t look great” ahead of England’s Test series against Sri Lanka, which starts in Manchester on August 21.Related

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The uncapped Jordan Cox is England’s spare batter, with Dan Lawrence set to replace the injured Zak Crawley at the top of the order, and could replace Stokes at No. 6 if they opt to pick only four main bowling options. Alternatively, Jamie Smith and Woakes could shuffle up to No. 6 and 7 respectively, with Matthew Potts or Olly Stone replacing Stokes and batting at No. 8.None of England’s frontline bowlers from their final two Tests against West Indies have played in the Hundred this year. Gus Atkinson has been with the Oval Invincibles squad but has not been selected, while neither Shoaib Bashir nor Mark Wood has a deal in the competition. Bashir has only been selected once by Somerset in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup, while Wood has not featured for Durham.Stokes is not the only England player who has been injured playing in the Hundred this year. Dillon Pennington, an unused member of the Test squad against West Indies, bowled five balls for Northern Superchargers in their win against Oval Invnicibles then pulled up with a hamstring injury which has ruled him out for the season.Meanwhile, Ian Bell is due to link up with Sri Lanka as part of their coaching staff during their series against England. Bell has been working closely with Smith during the Hundred at Birmingham Phoenix: “He’s reminded me a few times that he’s going to be in the opposite camp in this series,” Smith told Sky Sports ahead of Monday night’s game.

Matty Hurst hits 78 from 45 but visitors fail to capitalise on platform of 90-run opening stand

ECB Media04-Aug-2024Northern Superchargers made it two wins from two over Manchester Originals in the northern derbies at Headingley in the Hundred on Sunday. Harry Brook’s side beat the team from the other side of the Pennines by 14 runs to follow success for Hollie Armitage’s team earlier in the day.Originals won the toss and chose to bowl, which looked a great choice with rain falling before the start of the match and thick clouds overhead. Unsurprisingly then, Superchargers got off to a slow start with the bat, as Fazalhaq Farooqi took a wicket with the very first ball of the match.Graham Clark and captain Brook rebuilt the innings with a well-paced 50 partnership. Brook went on to score an explosive 58 off 33, before being caught out by Scott Currie low to the ground at mid-off.After a strong middle to the home side’s innings, Originals came back strongly at the end to restrict Superchargers to 167 for 5.Mitchell Santner bowled a key spell•Getty Images

Captain Phil Salt and Matty Hurst got Originals’ innings off to a very promising start with 90 for the opening partnership. Salt scoring 40 from 27, while the impressive Hurst top-scored with 78 from 45.Unfortunately for the winless Originals, they then capitulated from 90 for 1 to 128 for 4 thanks to some game-turning run-outs and Mitchell Santner, who took 2 for 23. When Hurst departed, Originals required 29 from 13, but they were unable to get over the line, leaving them rooted to the bottom of the table and Superchargers up into third.Meerkat Match Hero Brook said: “I felt like they were the favourites coming out of the powerplay, but we bowled unbelievably well at the death to get the win.”We didn’t have the batting powerplay that we wanted, but we stuck to our task. The outfield is so quick here that I didn’t feel like I needed to hit many balls in the air, so I was just trying to pierce the gaps and it worked. I was just trying to stay in until the end, so I could put pressure on them at the end. I felt good at the start and thankfully I hit a few gaps.”We’ve always got a take-wickets mentality, but we obviously had to think about that a bit more when we didn’t get a wicket in powerplay, and they were 90 without loss. So, I tossed the ball to [Adil] Rashid and Mitch [Santner], and they did a really good job in getting some crucial wickets that helped us get the win.”

Sobhana Mostary hits 44 but England spinners shackle chase in low-scorer

Alan Gardner05-Oct-2024England’s four-spinner attack shackled Bangladesh in a low-scorer at Sharjah to get their T20 World Cup campaign off to a winning start. Danni Wyatt-Hodge made 41 off 40 before England fell away with the bat but, on a slow, gripping surface, Bangladesh were kept in check throughout despite Sobhana Mostary’s career-best 44.With dew having played a limited role in the tournament so far, Heather Knight had opted to get a score on the board. Linsey Smith, the slow left-armer who spent six years out of the side, was selected in preference to Lauren Bell, alongside the formidable trio of Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean and Sarah Glenn. Smith bowled two in the powerplay, as England had hinted in the build-up, and finished with constricting figures of 2 for 11, as well as playing a part in the run-out of Nigar Sultana.Bangladesh had defended a similar score at this ground in their opening game against Scotland, but while Fahima Khatun and Ritu Moni were again impressive with the ball, they paid for allowing England to get away in the powerplay. Wyatt-Hodge and Maia Bouchier rode their luck at times – Bouchier was badly missed on 16 – but an opening stand of 48 in 6.4 overs opened up a chasm between the sides.The chase rarely got out of second gear, with only Mostary and Nigar reaching double-figures. Mostary should have been stumped on nought and would have been out lbw on 8 had England reviewed but she prevented the innings from flatlining even as Bangladesh struggled to build partnerships.

Mostary anchors, Bangladesh grounded

In contrast to the start made by England, Bangladesh managed just one boundary during the powerplay, losing both openers to be off the pace on 20 for 2. Dilara Akter, into the XI in place of Murshida Khatun, missed a sweep at Dean to be lbw in the fourth over, before Shathi Rani took on Smith only to be taken by the leaping Ecclestone at mid-off.The rebuilding job fell to Mostary, who had top-scored in victory over Scotland, and the captain, Nigar. The latter signalled that Bangladesh weren’t out of it, despite the climbing run rate, as she twice danced out to hit Glenn for fours in the ninth over.Bangladesh reached 42 for 2 at halfway, with Mostary picking up her first boundary shortly after as the third-wicket pair looked to push on. But Nigar was run out taking on Smith’s arm for a second that wasn’t there and Glenn bowled Shorna Akter to pile the pressure on Mostary. She responded by thrashing Dean over deep midwicket for six, leaving the requirement 40 from the last four overs. In the end, it was too much of an ask – although keeping Ecclestone wicketless for only the second time in 36 T20Is was a small victory.

Early running

The opening exchanges were watchful, as England attempted to size up a pitch they had never previously played on. It wasn’t until the fourth over that Wyatt-Hodge hit the first boundary – by which point she and opening partner Bouchier had been involved in three near-mishaps with their running.Bouchier survived a direct hit in the first over, via a well-judged tip-and-run to mid-off. Wyatt-Hodge was then left sprawling face first for the line as she attempted an even tighter single, only saved by the time it took Nahida Akter to return the ball to the non-striker’s stumps. And Wyatt-Hodge should have gone in the next over, picking out Moni in the covers and then sent back by Bouchier – only for the fielder to make a complete hash of throwing the ball in.The pair soon decided that boundaries were preferable to risky singles. Wyatt-Hodge swiped Fahima over square leg and then drilled four more through cover; Bouchier climbed into Marufa Akter as the swing began to wear off, striking back-to-back fours – although she should have gone next ball when prodding to point, where Rabeya Khan put down a straightforward chance. Another brace of fours off Nahida in the sixth over and England were up and running, 47 without loss from the powerplay.

England progress stalled

From that point on, Sharjah’s slow-and-low surface began to exert its influence on proceedings. England scored 29 runs and lost four wickets over the course of the next 6.1 overs as Bangladesh’s plethora of pace-off options came to the fore. Bouchier was first to go, plinking Rabeya to mid-on, and Nat Sciver-Brunt did not last long, playing around Fahima’s legbreak to be plumb lbw.Wyatt-Hodge and Knight steadied things but Moni’s peach did for the England captain, nipping the ball through the gate to hit middle and leg. When Wyatt-Hodge walked past one from Nahida to be stumped miles from safety, England were 76 for 4 and wondering how to resuscitate the innings in suffocating conditions.Alice Capsey became the first batter outside of the top two to find the boundary with a sweep off Nahida in the same over, but she became Fahima’s second victim when reversing straight to point. Danielle Gibson huffed and puffed, striking one four before edging behind for 7 off 11, while Amy Jones tried to make the most of being dropped on 3. From the penultimate ball, Ecclestone finally managed a clean hit, lofting the only six of the innings straight back down the ground.

Interim head coach says it’s up to the new faces to find the right tempo for 50-over cricket

Cameron Ponsonby01-Nov-2024Interim head coach Marcus Trescothick has defended his young ODI squad after their crushing eight-wicket defeat to the West Indies, saying the result is not reflective of English white-ball cricket.England’s loss to the West Indies was a twelfth ODI defeat in 18 matches since the start of the 2023 World Cup and gave a brutal reality check to a new-look eleven that included four debutants.On a tacky surface, England were bowled out for 209, before putting on an encouraging, but ultimately fruitless display with the ball as Windies opener Evin Lewis let loose for 94 off 69 balls.”I think it’s certainly not where England cricket is at,” Trescothick said after the game. “Because for a long period of time now you’ve not had our main team in white-ball games. You don’t really know where white-ball cricket is.”I think with the system that we’ve had and the volume of cricket that we’ve been trying to play and still look after the players, I think you could put a team together tomorrow for a World Cup, and it would probably look different to what you had this series and some of the series that we played against Australia.”So I don’t think you can judge it to say, look where white-ball cricket is at the moment. It’s been a tough period of time, there’s no doubt about it, but that’s been challenges from numerous different things.”The current series is missing several players due to the tour being sandwiched by England’s Test tours of Pakistan and New Zealand. But the squad picked for the Australia series was close to full strength, with Joe Root and Gus Atkinson rested but other absences such as Jos Buttler and Mark Wood missing through injury. The same could be said of the previous group to tour the Caribbean last year, when the squad picked was meant to signal a new age, while the World Cup squad was certainly first string. All this alongside uncertainty over Ben Stokes’ white-ball future.The nature of the defeat has called into question England’s absolute policy on prioritising youth, with Jordan Cox, in just his fifth List A match, walking out on debut for England at No.3, with the 21-year-old Jacob Bethell at No.4. Of the top six, only Phil Salt and Will Jacks had batted in those positions for England more than once in their careersJohn Turner, Jordan Cox, Dan Mousley and Jamie Overton made their ODI debuts in Antigua•Getty Images

“It’s probably a better question for the selectors more than anything else. It’s not my decision who comes in,” Trescothick said.”But I think you can see from the plan of the England team in the last year, probably, and maybe a little bit further back, how much we want to invest in the next generation.”Playing people who have played before would probably be going against the mantra of what we’re trying to do at the moment.”England’s innings saw five of the top six caught in the 30-yard-circle, as the balance between defence and attack eluded them to be bowled out in 45.1 overs.”We’ve got to try and bat 50 overs first and foremost,” said Trescothick. “The real skill in white-ball cricket in particular is the tempo and the balance between aggression and batting for long periods of time.”We will always be a team that is going to try and be aggressive, the pitch made it quite tricky to do that.”This is Trescothick’s last tour at the helm of the white-ball team before Brendon McCullum takes over the job in January. Placed in charge of an exceptionally inexperienced group, one of the biggest challenges, according to Trescothick, has been finding the balance between emphasising the opportunity is a ‘free hit’ to England’s youngsters, while also instilling a win-first mentality.”I am trying to get the priority right at the moment. I want to win every game and we dictate that in the dressing room. But we also want to see a few players in the environment before the structure changes and Brendon takes over. So, why not give them the opportunity to thrive in this environment?”That’s very much how we’re framing it. The opportunities are there for the guys to come in. We’ve seen four debutants in this match, we’ve got a couple other young guys in the squad who may make their debut across the next two weeks. [With the opportunity] you’re going to be further up the ladder than you were six days ago. So go out there and show what you can do.”Trescothick’s own role in the white-ball set up beyond January is undecided.”I don’t know just yet,” he said. “We’ve got a bit of a plan behind the scenes, but nothing has been confirmed as such.”I am not going to say which way it’s all going to sit, because it would probably give it away too much, but obviously Brendon’s going to come in and take control of the full show and then he will dictate what and where we are going to be and how that’s going to look.”

The opener was struck on the elbow and retired hurt while a number of other batters fell to the moving ball

Tristan Lavalette15-Nov-20242:59

Sneak a peek at India’s Perth preparations

KL Rahul left the field after being struck on the elbow in an injury concern for India ahead of the first Test, while Virat Kohli shrugged off speculation over his fitness but was one of several batters caught behind the wicket in an intra-squad match simulation at the WACA.After three days in the WACA nets, India ramped up their preparations a week before the series-opener at Optus Stadium with an XI featuring their main stars out in the middle against a side filled with mostly their fringe and India A players.In perhaps an indication that he is earmarked to open the batting if captain Rohit Sharma misses the first Test, Rahul opened alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in overcast conditions.Related

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Rahul looked in fluent touch and appeared to be handling short bowling well until he was struck on his right elbow by a rising delivery from quick Prasidh Krishna. The blow left him grimacing and he trudged off the ground after seeking medical attention.Rahul did not come out to bat later in the day as India’s main batters had another turn at the crease.Jaiswal started aggressively with a belligerent whack through the covers, but on 15 he nicked off to second slip in what would become a common sight through a simulation that lasted two-and-a-half hours before lunch.Amid reports that he has undergone scans in recent days, Kohli looked in fine touch and hit a couple of gorgeous shots through the covers. But on 15 he nicked seamer Mukesh Kumar to second slip before he then spent around 30 minutes in the nearby nets.Short-pitched bowling had been a priority for India’s batters on Thursday, with local club quicks unleashing rapid speed while some batters took part in a drill where a tennis ball was fired from close range aimed at their heads.The WACA surface so far in this simulation has had considerably less bounce and carry than Sheffield Shield matches this season. But there has been some movement off a length and India’s batters looked wanting.Rishabh Pant, who had struggled against the short ball at times during his net sessions earlier in the week, smoked a boundary through the off-side early in his innings but he seemed shaken after copping a blow to the groin. He was cleaned bowled by a quick delivery from Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was a standout after also later claiming Dhruv Jurel in the slips.KL Rahul walks off after being hit on the arm•Getty Images

No. 3 Shubman Gill started slowly and struggled to get the strike for his two-hour stay at the crease. He started looking more comfortable before on 28 fending to gully a short of a length delivery from quick Navdeep Saini who celebrated with gusto.The rare sight at the WACA of spin from both ends occurred just before the interval with Washington Sundar and Tanush Kotian bowling in tandem as the batting side reached the break at 106 for 5 after 28 overs.Befitting the simulation, with it not being an official match, India’s main batters had another go of it. It appeared there were more specific match situations being tested as Jaiswal and Gill, who was scratchy the first time around, went all-out attack.But they soon reverted to a cautious approach as they mostly dead-batted in a sedate passage of play as India’s coaching staff walked laps around the boundary.Jaiswal has looked the most comfortable against the short ball, including during the net sessions, and he was also ultra-attacking when spin came into the attack. He finished 58 not out, while Gill, who sometimes appeared anchored to the crease, made an unbeaten 42.After the final interval, Kohli and Pant returned and they were confronted by sharp short of a length bowling from Prasidh and Reddy. Kohli was particularly troubled and played and missed on several occasions. But he found his rhythm and played a few gorgeous backfoot strokes, including a pull shot to the boundary which damaged his bat and required a change.Kohli did not look in any discomfort, quelling injury fears, as he batted for an hour before finishing up on 30.Pant tried to counter the length by skipping down the pitch and he had mixed success. He was eventually bowled on 24 by the impressive Mukesh – the second time in the day his wickets had been rattled.Jurel returned and was joined by Akash Deep in the final passages as the batting side finished on 339 for 8 in a match simulation that lasted 75 overs.The simulation is expected to continue over the weekend.

The opener will join Paarl Royals as a replacement for Joe Root who is heading to India

AAP31-Jan-2025Mitchell Owen has earned his first T20 contract since a dazzling display in the BBL final, joining South African franchise Paarl Royals.Owen scored a league-leading 452 runs for Hurricanes during the BBL, starting the summer as a relatively anonymous figure before announcing himself as a star. The highlight was his scarcely believable century in the final, coming off just 39 balls as he delivered Hurricanes their first title.Related

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Owen’s pressure-laden performance was widely expected to pique the interest of T20 clubs around the world, including the IPL. The 23-year-old will have to wait longer to find out if he will pocket a life-changing sum as a late call-up for the IPL.But the Royals have wasted no time in signing Owen as a replacement for former England captain Joe Root, who is linking up with his national squad in India and is unavailable for the rest of the SA20.League leaders Paarl and second-placed MI Cape Town, who have Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult and Rashid Khan in their squad, will square off in next week’s qualifier final.Ricky Ponting was among the good judges to lavish Owen with praise after his eye-catching knock in the BBL final. “There’s not many players in the world that can do that,” Ponting told AAP.Ponting noted discussion of Owen representing Australia in next year’s T20 World Cup was “inevitable”.Matthew Wade said Owen “can be anything”, adding “no stage really worries him too much”.

On either side of Nurul’s blitz was an obstructing the field incident and an argument involving Tamim Iqbal on an action-packed evening

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jan-2025Nurul Hasan hit three sixes and three fours in the final over of Rangpur Riders’ chase against Fortune Barishal in a Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match in Sylhet on Thursday, to take his team to a last-ball win.It was the third highest last-over score in a men’s T20, behind Somerset’s 34 runs in a nine-ball over against Somerset in the T20 Blast in 2015 and Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) 31 against Gujarat Titans (GT) in IPL 2023.Nurul was on 2 from one ball after walking out in the 18th over of Rangpur’s chase of Barishal’s 197 for 5. First, he saw Shaheen Shah Afridi and Jahandad Khan send four batters back by the end of the 19th over – including Mahedi Hasan given out obstructing the field. Then, up against Kyle Mayers’ medium pace with Rangpur needing 26 runs to win the game, Nurul went 6 (scythed over cow corner), 4 (shovelled over fine leg), 4 (just short of the rope at deep square), 6 (into the stands at deep midwicket) and 4 (through the covers) to leave two runs to get off the last ball, which he smashed square on the leg side for six more. At the start of that over, it seemed like Rangpur’s unbeaten run in the competition was over. At the end of it, they had made it six wins out of six and were six points clear at the top.Most runs successfully chased in the last over of a T20•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

After the game, Nurul remembered another final over where he could not get the job done. “I always regretted not being able to take 20 runs off the last over against India, in the [2022] T20 World Cup,” he said. “We got close but I couldn’t finish the job in that big stage.”*This time around, he produced one of his “best knocks”. “Khushdil [Shah], who struck two sixes in the 19th over, said that we can still win this game. [Non-striker Kamrul Islam] Rabbi told me to play all six balls in the last over. I think the first six gave me the most belief. They have a good bowling attack. Twenty-six runs was a lot of runs… I was just hoping that I got the balls in my zone.”It is nothing new – people often forget my knocks of twenties or thirties. It is not a big deal as long as I can contribute for the team. Since I could win the game for the team, this is one of my best knocks.”

Mahedi out obstructing the field

That last over was not the only drama in the game. The 19th over, which Khushdil began with consecutive sixes before falling, produced three wickets: the second one falling via an obstructing-the-field incident.Mahedi Hasan was facing his first ball, with Nurul at the other end. Mahedi lobbed the ball down the pitch, Nurul set off to get the strike, and the bowler Jahandad Khan hared towards his left to collect the aerial lob. Nurul and the bowler collided halfway down the pitch, as the latter was looking to complete the return-catch. An appeal followed and Mahedi was given out in accordance with Law 37.3.1 that states “if the delivery is not a no-ball, the striker is out obstructing the field if wilful obstruction or distraction by either batter prevents the striker being out caught.”Nurul said of the incident: “I was trying to take a run. He just came in front of me. I didn’t change my way. I didn’t have any intention to obstruct the bowler. The umpire informed us that whoever was the striker in that instance, would be declared out.”The final bit of drama came after Nurul’s winning six, when Barishal captain Tamim Iqbal was seen being held back from an argument with members of the opposition. “I saw it partly but I am not aware what it is about,” Nurul said.Barishal coach Nafees Iqbal described the incident thus: “I just saw that there was some excitement after the game. Emotions often carry over after this sort of match. I hope it is nothing serious. Possibly something was said, which prompted the reaction. I don’t think it is serious.”Rangpur batter Alex Hales who was involved in the incident told : “He [Tamim] was upset about something. I am not sure but maybe because his team had just lost. We shook hands. Nothing was said. He asked me if I have something to say, say it to his face. I didn’t say anything. He was getting very personal.”*

Joe Root’s 120 off 111 balls – his first ODI ton since 2019 – went in vain for England

Andrew Miller26-Feb-20252:22

Knight: Zadran showed he’s good against pace as well

The politicians hadn’t wanted this game to go ahead, but who could have wished to deny the scenes of raw euphoria that unfolded in Lahore as Afghanistan completed the double they had set in motion at the 2023 World Cup, dumping England out of the Champions Trophy in a wildly undulating, anxious scramble for glory.Eight runs was the margin when – with Mark Wood hobbling and all the recognised batters gone – Adil Rashid swung for the hills off the penultimate ball of the match and picked out the man of the hour, Ibrahim Zadran, whose take in front of the dugout was completed with the same coolness with which he had compiled his exceptional 177 from 146 balls – an innings that had simply been too good to fail.Much the same could have been said for England’s main man of their 326-run chase, Joe Root, whose 120 from 111 balls was his 17th in the ODI format but, remarkably, his first since the 2019 World Cup. Had he had a bit more support, and had he not been racked with cramp going into the final push, his run-a-ball tempo might have been more than sufficient to seize the day. Instead, he was undone by an effort ball from the indefatigable Azmatullah Omarzai, whose five-wicket haul followed a priceless knock of 41 from 31 balls that had helped to pull his own team out of a tailspin.Related

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Speaking straight afterwards, a shell-shocked Jos Buttler insisted he would not be making any “emotional” statements about his future as captain, but acknowledged the fundamental lack of confidence that had contributed to his team’s downfall.After Afghanistan had opted to bat first, Jofra Archer’s three-wicket powerplay onslaught should by rights have settled the contest there and then. And yet, from 37 for 3 in the ninth over, Zadran and his captain Hashmatullah Shahidi focused solely on survival until the point that their 103-run fourth-wicket stand had, almost imperceptibly, transformed itself into a platform for a thrillingly smooth acceleration.Ultimately, Afghanistan’s scorecard told the exact tale of their innings. Three single-figure scores at the top – for a combined total of 14 runs from 28 balls – then a trio of 40s, at ever increasing tempos, from Shahidi, Omarzai and the forty-something himself, Mohammad Nabi, whose 24-ball onslaught was a typically ageless display from a player who has been on every step of this Afghanistan journey, right from their exploratory tour of England as a club side way back in 2006.And then, underpinning it all, a performance of rare majesty from Zadran, whose sixth hundred in 35 ODI innings was not only the highest by an Afghan in the format, but the best in Champions Trophy history, trumping the 165 that Ben Duckett had posted against Australia in the previous fixture at Lahore.It was a controlled explosion of an innings, and one of the most impressive ODI performances that can ever have been compiled. Zadran showed the tenacity to hang tough while England’s quicks were dominating the early exchanges, but after reaching his first fifty from 65 balls, he marched through to his hundred from 41 more, then clattered along at a near 200 strike rate thereafter.1:58

Knight: England’s attack has not clicked

By the time he holed out to square leg at the start of the 50th over, Zadran had worked his way so smoothly through the gears that England had been left with scarcely any agency in their predicament. This was summed up when Wood, who had already spent 38 minutes off the field after his left knee gave way midway through his fourth over, was forced to leave the field once again, this time for good and with two overs of his allocation unused.It had been a typically masochistic effort from Wood, whose willingness to bust a gut for the cause has never been in doubt. But England’s desperation to get him back into the fray there epitomised their threadbare resources. In a throwback to the sort of bit-part tactics that dominated ODI cricket in the 1980s and 1990s, Root and Liam Livingstone had been charged with cobbling together 12 overs between them. But when, with nowhere else to turn, Root’s offspin was served up to the hard-swinging Nabi, two massive leg-side sixes ensued in a 23-run 47th over.Not even Archer could stem the tide. He’d already been crashed for a six and three fours by Zadran, now in overdrive, who then launched a slower ball in Archer’s final over over long-on to seize Duckett’s record.England’s target of 326 was daunting but not insurmountable, as they themselves had discovered on this same ground on Saturday night, when their own hefty total of 351 for 8 had been hunted down by Australia with 15 balls to spare. And yet, it was close to double the sort of target that England might at one stage have envisioned.