Afghanistan pulled off the result of the 2023 World Cup so far by beating England at Delhi. Yas Rana looks where it went wrong for the defending champions.

This was no nail-biter. England were resoundingly bettered with both bat and ball. If the opening-day defeat to New Zealand was a reality check for their overall World Cup hopes, this was a result that illustrated just how far off England are from the top teams on current form.

Woakes and Curran way off the mark

It was a grim outing for England’s two seam-bowling all-rounders as their eight overs leaked 87 runs between them. Both were pulverised by Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the powerplay and both were similarly expensive when brought back on later in the innings. Afghanistan’s seamers weren’t exactly frugal themselves but both picked up crucial wickets and threatened to take more; Woakes and Curran were as blunt as they were expensive.

Curran is neither a banker for 10 overs nor a reliable top-seven batter, his spot is surely the most under threat when Ben Stokes likely returns for what is now a seismic fixture against South Africa next weekend. They also have a decision to make on Woakes whose sudden drop in form has almost been unfathomable. Woakes was arguably the bowler of the English summer and it’s only been a month since he was irresistible against New Zealand in an ODI at The Oval. Do they persevere with a bowler going at 7.50 runs per over across the first third of the group stage or do they hand a World Cup debut to either Gus Atkinson or David Willey? Either way, it’s one hell of a call to make for a game against the most in-form batting unit in the competition.

Lack of flexibility in the squad

There was logic in the decision to pick six seamers in a squad of 15. There were concerns over the fitness of at least two of their first choice seamers and England’s schedule – which is travel heavy and without back-to-back games at the same venue – was a factor to consider that doesn’t necessarily come into play for World Cups held elsewhere.

Whether or not that was right or wrong it has left England with a squad that is limited in its flexibility to adapt in response to a variety of conditions. It contains only one spinner (Rashid) who had bowled his full allocation of overs multiple times in ODI cricket in the year building up to the World Cup. India has the most diverse set of pitches in the world and England don’t have the in-squad flexibility to adapt sufficiently to the conditions presented to them.

The Delhi pitch was by no means a dust bowl but it offered the spinners a decent level of purchase and certainly offered them more assistance than it did the seamers. Adil Rashid, Liam Livingstone and Joe Root claimed 5-95 in 23 overs against Afghanistan, while Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi combined for 8-107 in 25.3 overs. England not picking Moeen Ali also arguably marks a misreading of those conditions, something that the tournament’s top three sides so far (India, South Africa and New Zealand) have navigated more effectively. India and South Africa have already brought in an extra spinner depending on conditions while New Zealand have Ish Sodhi waiting in the wings if they feel a supplementary spin option to Santner and Ravindra is needed.

No recent chasing success

There was a feeling coming into the World Cup that England were slightly undercooked compared to their main competitors. Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes had all recently gone over a year between ODI appearances while the two of the youngest members of the squad in Harry Brook and Atkinson are short on overall career 50-over experience.

As a squad though, they are curiously short on recent experience of chasing. England have somehow entered the tournament without having chased in ODI cricket since March when they took a less than full strength squad to Bangladesh. Their win in Mirpur, that Dawid Malan essentially pulled off on his own, is their sole ODI win batting second against a Full Member in the last two years; the England top six that day featured four players not in their World Cup squad.

Going even further back, their previous win while chasing was when Ben’s Babes beat Pakistan in ‘The Covid series’ in 2021. John Simpson and Lewis Gregory have therefore been involved in a successful ODI run chase more recently than Root and Bairstow. James Vince has chased more in ODI cricket than Root since the 2019 World Cup. Before that there were two successful run chases against a woeful Sri Lanka side earlier in 2021. This is a side that has no recent muscle memory of how to navigate chases against good sides. It is odd, in hindsight, that they decided to bat first having won the toss in their final ODI at home to New Zealand last month having been inserted in to bat by the Black Caps in the three previous games. England did chase in their sole World Cup warm-up game against Bangladesh – a match that did not carry ODI status – but rain reduced the length of the game and England required a half-century from Moeen Ali at No.7 to get them over the line in a chase of 197 having been 114-5 earlier in the piece.

Lack of intent with the bat

Related to the above, England were uncharacteristically cautious with the bat. That is in part due to Afghanistan’s superb performance with the ball, but England made little attempt to hit their opponents off their lengths. While the Delhi pitch was visibly lower and slower than it had been earlier in the competition, it was still more than decent for batting, as made evident by Reece Topley and Mark Wood’s 10th wicket stand as much as Rahmanullah and Ibrahim Zadran’s partnership seven hours previously, yet only Harry Brook looked to clear the relatively short boundaries.

Afghanistan’s outstanding bowling attack given a competitive total to defend

Afghanistan’s spin triumvirate of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi is as strong and as diverse any other side’s at this World Cup. They are too often not given a chance to show their worth because of the flimsiness of their batting line up. Afghanistan’s 284 against England was their second highest score at a World Cup where they are still yet to register a score in excess of 300. They are stronger batting unit in 2023 than they were in 2019 and in Rahmanullah and Zadran they have a genuinely dangerous opening pair. On a pitch offering turn, their spinners were always going to be a threat and in the end, the 8-104 from 25.3 overs they took between them was more than enough to see England off. Only India can really rival the spin threat Afghanistan have at their disposal. If they can consistently muster up scores close to 300 they will be a handful for anyone.

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