Roy completes England’s rout of Afghanistan

LONDON: Jason Roy sealed an England thrashing of Afghanistan as the tournament hosts cruised to victory in their final match before the World Cup.Roy made 89 not out on his Surrey home ground on Monday as England hammered outsiders Afghanistan by nine wickets with nearly 200 balls to spare. England, two days after losing their previous practice match to world champions Australia, returned to winning ways in convincing fashion.A target of 161 was never likely to test England, with Roy proving as much in a 46-ball innings that included 11 fours and four sixes. Before play started, England were boosted by the news that fast bowler Mark Wood had been passed fit to face South Africa after a foot injury.Earlier, Jofra Archer and Joe Root took three wickets apiece as Afghanistan slumped to 160 all out. Fast bowler Archer struck twice with the new ball to dismiss Hazratullah and Rahmat before ending some late resistance from Nabi.Opener Noor Ali scrapped his way to 30 before he played on to all-rounder Ben Stokes. Hashmatullah could not get going and that prompted Asghar Afghan to attack the occasional off-spin of Test captain Root.But, having missed out on a first-ball full toss, Asghar tried to drive Root over the top but found Roy in the deep instead. Afghanistan lost their next four wickets in a mere seven deliveries, Hashmatullah and Najibullah Zadran carelessly run out, Gulbadin Naib holing out to Moeen Ali and Rashid Khan steering Root to slip for a golden duck.England won tossAfghanistanHazratullah Zazai c Ali b Archer 11Noor Ali Zadran b Stokes 30†Rahmat Shah c Plunkett (sub) b Archer 3Hashmatullah Shahidi run out 19Asghar Afghan c Roy b Root 10*Gulbadin Naib c Stokes b Ali 14Najibullah Zadran run out 1Mohammad Nabi c Bairstow b Archer 44Rashid Khan c Stokes b Root 0Aftab Alam c Rashid b Root 6Dawlat Zadran not out 20Extras (w 2) 2Total (all out; 38.4 overs) 160Did not bat: Samiullah Shinwari, Hamid HassanFall: 1-17, 2-25, 3-49, 4-66, 5-88, 6-88, 7-92, 8-92, 9-127, 10-160Bowling: Archer 5.4-0-32-3; Woakes 5-1-10-0 (w 1); Curran 3-0-15-0; Stokes 4-0-14-1; Root 6-0-22-3 (w 1); Ali 9-1-42-1; Rashid 6-0-25-0EnglandJ J Roy not out 89J M Bairstow st Rahmat b Nabi 39J E Root not out 29Extras (w 4) 4Total (1 wicket; 17.3 overs) 161Did not bat: *E J G Morgan, B A Stokes, †J C Buttler , M M Ali, J M Vince, C R Woakes, T K Curran, J C Archer, A U Rashid, M A WoodFall: 1-77Bowling: Hamid 3-0-21-0; Dawlat 1-0-16-0 (w 1); Rashid 5-0-32-0; Nabi 3-0-34-1; Aftab 2-0-20-0; Naib 3.3-0-38-0 (w 3)Result: England won by 9 wicketsUmpires: Paul Reiffel (Australia) and Ruchira Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka). TV umpire: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka). Match referee: David Boon (Australia)

from The News International - Sports http://bit.ly/2Wn7y5j