Afghanistan can spring England upset: Coach Trott

Afghanistan may be bottom of the World Cup standings after losing their first two games, but the Asian side have the ability to upset defending champions England in their group fixture on Sunday, their English coach Jonathan Trott said.
Afghanistan lost their tournament opener to Bangladesh in a low-scoring encounter before hosts India registered a comfortable eight-wicket victory. Afghanistan have lost 16 of their 17 World Cup matches but Trott said there is a “a lot of fight in the dressing room” as they look to find consistency with both the bat and ball.
“I think this side’s got the ability to upset any side. We’ve been so close in previous matches, it’s just about getting over the line and making sure that we do,” Trott told reporters. “We’ll have an opportunity tomorrow to put pressure on England and we’ve got to make sure we do that.”
England thrashed Afghanistan by 150 runs at the last World Cup but Trott said the gulf in quality between the two sides has significantly reduced. “England are probably in a very similar place to where they were then and we’ve got a bit better as well,” he added. “That’s why I’m very optimistic with tomorrow’s game.”
Trott admitted that his team “get it 70-80% right” but need to find an extra gear quickly if they are to end a demoralising run of 14 successive World Cup defeats. They lost all nine matches at the 2019 World Cup while winning just one against Scotland on their 2015 debut.
“At times we get 70-80% of it right, but the other 20-30% that we don’t get right really ends up costing us,” said Trott, a former England international batsman. “Starting the game well is going to be crucial against a very strong England side. But going forward for the rest of the competition as well, we need to start better with bat and ball and set the standard of how we want to play our cricket.”
Against India, eight Afghanistan batsmen reached double figures with skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi making 80 and Azmatullah Omarzai 62 in a total of 272. But India coasted to an eight-wicket win with spin wizard Rashid Khan claiming both victims. In the opener against Bangladesh, it was the batting which eventually misfired as Afghanistan collapsed from 83-1 to 156 all out in a six-wicket loss.
Trott backed Rashid to play a key role in Sunday’s game. The leg-spinner, a mainstay of Twenty20 franchise cricket around the world, has just two wickets from two games for the cost of 105 runs. He has 174 ODI wickets in his career but managed only six at the 2019 World Cup. Against England at Old Trafford he went 0-110 as his team were routed by 150 runs.
“Rashid, can’t speak highly enough about the guy, the way that he performs and his passion for playing for this side,” said Trott. “I know that he puts a lot of pressure on himself as well to perform and lead the attack. But it’s the job of all the other guys who have the ball in their hand to cause mayhem and put a bit of pressure on England. It’s a case of the other bowlers making sure that they are on just as a high level and as switched on as Rashid normally is.”
Afghanistan will hope Ben Stokes, who smashed a record-breaking 182 in his last one-day international, remains sidelined as he recovers from a hip injury which kept him out of England’s first two games. “Ben seems to be getting better day on day. He trained really well last night, obviously had a long bat, did his running, seems to be improving, so all good signs ahead of tomorrow,” England batter Joe Root said. “But he’s got to be fit to play and we’ll see whether that’s the case for tomorrow, whether it’s the next game or further down the line.”
England lost their opener to New Zealand but bounced back with a win over Bangladesh to sit fifth in the table. Only the top four advance to the semi-finals.
“I think we weren’t where we wanted to be in the first game. We were considerably better in the last game against Bangladesh,” Root added.
“This is another opportunity for us to take another stride forward and keep building that momentum and that progression towards the business end of this tournament and making sure that we are where we need to be by the back end of it.”