England vs Afganistan

England almost suffered another defeat to an associate team in the World T20, before coming through to win by 15 runs. 

They were well set at 42-1, but the loss of 3 wickets in an over saw a collapse to 42-4, then 57-6 before reaching 142-7 mainly due to man of the match Moeen Ali and David Willey.

Afganistan were never in the reply, losing star man Mohammad Shahzad third ball before finishing on 127-9.

England lost 5 wickets for just 15 runs in a shambolic collapse that saw James Vince, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes all fall to spin.

In fact, 16 overs of the England innings were bowled by spinners, losing 6 wickets to the slow bowlers.

Moeen, first with Chris Jordan, rebuilt the innings, albeit slowly, but when Willey made his way to the crease after a soft dismissal for Jordan, the tempo picked up.

The 19th over went for 25, Moeen slog-sweeping a six and then flat-batting a four back down the ground before Willey smashed huge sixes over midwicket and straight, giving England a chance of something to bowl at.

Afghanistan didn't start the chase well, falling to 13-3 with Jordan and Willey picking up wickets before the recalled Liam Plunkett put in an outstanding performance: bowling his four overs for just 12 runs in the third best economical bowling performance for any England bowler.

Despite the ease of victory, England must put in a much improved performance against Sri Lanka on saturday to give them the any real chance of making the semi-finals.