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Flat pitch boosts England
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Stokes may sit out again
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England v Afghanistan
Sunday 15 October, 09:30
TV: Live on Sky Sports
England v Afghanistan World Cup team news
England are getting closer to working out their best XI. They now know it includes Reece Topley. Whether Moeen Ali is a better pick than Chris Woakes as pitches get more worn remains to be seen. Ben Stokes looks likely to sit out again so Harry Brook retains his spot.
Probable XI: Bairstow, Malan, Root, Brook, Buttler, Livingstone, S Curran, Woakes, Rashid, Wood, Topley
Afghanistan have been beaten twice convincingly. Their best chance is to pick an army of spinners on a turning track. But they're unlikely to get that here. It was a bonus, of sorts, that they were able to bat reasonably well against India last time out with Omarzai getting useful runs.
Possible XI: Gurbaz, Ibrahim, Rahmat, Hasmatullah, Omarzai, Najibullah, Rashid, Mujeeb, Naveen, Farooqi
England v Afghanistan World Cup pitch report
The Delhi surface looks good for batting. South Africa's 428 against Sri Lanka may not be trumped in the tournament. And then a weak Afghan batting line up took 272 off India. England will expect to bust 350 and it could be that the par line is set as high.
England v Afghanistan World Cup match odds
It's ideal for England that they get a flat one against Afghanistan. Any hint of turn or a slow track could have made the Afghans an option for at least a trade at 8.615/2 would have been basic.
As it stands, if England were to bat first we expect them to score well and that Afghanistan price to drift significantly.
The best chance for Afghanistan is to bat first and see if they can get up to that 270, 280 mark. That could be worth a couple of points on their price at least.
England v Afghanistan World Cup player bets
Jos Buttler has a 25% win rate but down at No 5 on a flat one will he get the time? We have to consider that a factor. The 5/16.00 is tough asd he was 7s last time. We'll look for 10/111.00 in-play. Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan have the opportunity to go big and given the relationship between runs and player of the match, the 17/29.50 and 17/29.50 respectively are options.
Ibrahim Zadran is reliable at [7/2] for top Afghan bat but Rahmanullah Gurbaz is also a boosted bet at 4/15.00.
Ibrahim is also available at 4/15.00 on the exchange. Zadran and Farooqi are overdue wins for top bat and bowler so the 14/115.00 double has appeal also.