England have been dumped out of the ICC Champions Trophy after struggling a dramatic eight-run defeat to Afghanistan in what successfully amounted to an eliminator between the perimeters in Lahore.
Chasing 326 to win, Joe Root struck an outstanding 120 off 111 balls as, regardless of wickets tumbling at common intervals, England flirted on quite a few events with a victory that may hold their event alive.
However Root, cramping up late within the innings, fell within the forty sixth over, whereas neither Jamie Overton (32 off 28) nor Jofra Archer (14 off 8) might see the facet over the road – no boundary scored within the closing 15 deliveries as England have been bowled out for 317.
Afghanistan are nonetheless alive within the event, owing an excessive amount of gratitude to quick bowler Azmatullah Omarzai (5-58) and opener Ibrahim Zadran, who hit an impressive 177 off 146 balls to set a brand new Champions Trophy and Afghanistan ODI report.
Ibrahim’s knock rescued his facet from 37-3 after a devastating opening burst by Jofra Archer (3-64), with a banged-up England bowling assault, simply as of their opening defeat towards Australia, struggling to benefit from these early inroads and comprise Afghanistan because the innings progressed.
Mark Wooden injured his knee and appears set to comply with Brydon Carse on an early flight dwelling, whereas Liam Livingstone additionally left the sphere late within the innings however returned to take a few wickets and would bat.
England’s conflict with Afghanistan had been marked on the calendar for a while, with a possible boycott by Jos Buttler’s facet debated in response to Taliban rule within the nation, however as soon as it went forward, the must-win nature of the matchup for each side solely added to the spectacle.
Regardless of having gained the toss, Afghanistan struggled with the bat early on, Archer claiming his fiftieth ODI wicket when bowling Rahmanullah Gurbaz (6) off an inside edge, earlier than including Sediqullah Atal (4) and Rahmat Shah (4) in a formidable opening spell.
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Jofra Archer claimed three early wickets towards Afghanistan together with his fiftieth ODI wicket.
On the different finish, nonetheless, Wooden (0-50) went down in his fourth over, and although he returned to bowl an additional 4 after leaving the sphere and receiving some therapy, he appeared restricted and troubled all through.
That left an already-stretched bowling assault including further workload but once more to the likes of Livingstone (2-28) and Root (0-47), whereas Overton (1-72) – into the facet rather than Carse – proved costly, as did Archer because the Afghanistan innings progressed.
Ibrahim placed on 103 for the fourth wicket with captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (40), whereas Azmatullah (41 off 31) and Mohammad Nabi (40 off 24) got here up with very important contributions.
Ibrahim went by way of to his sixth ODI century within the thirty seventh over of the innings, earlier than carnage ensured, Wooden’s subsequent overs costing 18, earlier than 113 have been smashed from the ultimate 10 – one Archer over going for 20 and a Root effort for 23 as England started to crumble within the discipline.
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A resurgent Afghanistan scored 23 runs off a Joe Root over on the ICC Champions Trophy.
Afghanistan breezed past 300, Ibrahim breaking Ben Duckett’s prior Champions Trophy report rating of 165 within the course of, set towards Australia solely 4 days prior, and England – winless of their final 5 ODIs and with just one victory in eight – abruptly appeared proper up towards it.
Their Champions Trophy hopes appeared much more flimsy when rapidly lowered to 30-2 throughout the opening seven overs of their run-chase.
Phil Salt’s keep was once more all too temporary, clean-bowled for 12 by Azmatullah, whereas Jamie Smith (9) was too wanting to take the aggressive choice, perishing to Nabi’s first ball when skewing a thick edge to backward level.
England’s in-form pair of Duckett and Root set about rebuilding the innings however, after benefitting from an enormous stroke of luck when dropped on 30 by Hashmatullah – a sitter put down at mid-off – Duckett (38) departed lbw to Rashid Khan (1-66) after a wisely-used DRS assessment.
The badly out-of-nick Harry Brook (25) struck a couple of encouraging boundaries earlier than succumbing to an ugly-looking caught-and-bowled dismissal off Nabi (2-57), chipping again the best of grabs.
Beneath-fire skipper Buttler appeared to be carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders when scratching his technique to 11 off his first 23 deliveries – lucky to outlive a brilliant tight lbw shout towards Nabi on ‘umpire’s name’ when on 9 – earlier than a primary six of the innings appeared to free him up.
Root went serenely by way of to a run-a-ball fifty on the different finish, the pair placing on 83 for the fifth wicket to seemingly have England within the ascendency with 112 wanted off the ultimate 14 overs.
Buttler (38) and Livingstone (10) then departed in fast succession in yet one more twist, and although Root went by way of to an impressive seventeenth ODI hundred, his wicket – gloving Azmatullah behind – was at all times prone to show decisive, and so it proved.
What’s subsequent?
We enter into the ultimate set of group-stage fixtures, beginning with the Group A useless rubber between the already-eliminated Pakistan and Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
In Group B, Afghanistan are then again in motion in Lahore on Friday, going through Australia, whereas England spherical off their event towards semi-final chasing South Africa in Karachi on Saturday.
India and New Zealand then battle it out for prime spot in Group A in Dubai on Sunday – all video games reside on Sky Sports activities Cricket from 8.30am, forward of play beginning at 9am UK time.
ICC Champions Trophy 2025 – outcomes and fixtures 🏏
Group A
Group B
Semi-finals
- March 4: Semi-final – A1 v B2 (Dubai)
- March 5: Semi-final 2 – A2 v B1 (Lahore)
Closing
- March 9: Closing (Lahore or Dubai)
Watch each match from the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, as much as and together with the ultimate on March 9, reside on Sky Sports activities, or stream with NOW.
