England vs Afghanistan, Cricket World Cup 2019 LIVE: Latest score, updates, stream info and more from Old Trafford

21.0 – England 109/1, J Root 29, J Bairstow 52, Rashid Khan 0-9 (2)

Watchful again from the England pair as Rashid Khan rattles through his second.

50 FOR JONNY BAIRSTOW! 52 from 61 balls with five fours and one six.

And he gets there in fine fashion with a caressed push again in that extra-cover/mid-off gap.

A platform from which to build. He had to battle a little bit early on and hasn’t looked entirely comfortable throughout, but plenty of time left in which to accelerate and make a score.

20.0 – England 106/1, J Root 26, J Bairstow 52, Gulbadin 0-18 (4)

19.5 – England 102/1, J Root 26, J Bairstow 48, Gulbadin 0-14 (3.5)

Another misfield brings up the England 100 in the 20th over. Slow-ish, by their standards certainly, and one wonders the pressure that might have been built had Afghanistan managed to be a bit tidier around the park.

19.0 – England 98/1, J Root 24, J Bairstow 46, Rashid Khan 0-6 (1)

Immediately Khan’s pace and hard-to-read fast arm, upright action beats Root, struck on the knee-roll as he goes back to pull, but it’s missing leg stump.

The conventional leg-spinner does for Bairstow somewhat, slip waiting but out of action as Bairstow’s edge is thick enough to slide past backward point, and a single will close the over.

Talk of the devil…

Here’s Rashid Khan.

A relatively quiet first 18 overs, surprisingly. Afghanistan have bowled tidily, England have batted solidly, with only the departure of James Vince hooking stymieing their sedate progress so far.

Dawlat Zadran got that wicket with a well-directed short ball but it looks a pitch for the tweakers, and Gulbadin still has ten overs of Rashid Khan on which to call. England, with wickets in hand and a typically deep batting lineup, will be thinking 300 as an absolute minimum.

18.0 – England 92/1, J Root 21, J Bairstow 43, Gulbadin 0-10 (3)

Cheers from the Afghanistan support as their nation’s president is shown making his way out of the ground from the posh seats.

Time for a drink.

17.2 – England 90/1, J Root 20, J Bairstow 42, Gulbadin 0-8 (2.2)

That’s a shot and a half from Bairstow, waiting for the slower ball, delaying his forward stride until the ball is there to be hit and then lofting deliciously to the bowler’s left for a four past mid-off. He’s starting to find his timing and tempo…

17.0 – England 86/1, J Root 20, J Bairstow 38, Rahmat Shah 0-19 (2)

Root reaches out to turn a loopy leg-spinner into a full toss and connects sweetly. Four runs through midwicket, and then collects two twos in succession with good placement between the deep fielders. He’s up to a run-a-ball, as he always seems to be.

Another relatively expensive over from Rahmat.

16.0 – England 75/1, J Root 11, J Bairstow 36, Gulbadin 0-4 (2)

Afghanistan are trying to keep this pair off guard as Gulbadin brings himself back on after switching ends with Nabi.

Bairstow does well to dig out a back-of-the-hand slower ball yorker. Pretty sedate stuff, which isn’t a description you’d have used too often about this England batting lineup. 

15.0 – England 72/1, J Root 10, J Bairstow 34, M Nabi 0-15 (2)

Much cleaner from Nabi, finding a couple of springy spots on the Old Trafford pitch to trouble the England pair with bounce. Four from the over. 

14.0 – England 67/1, J Root 8, J Bairstow 32, Rahmat Shah 0-8 (1)

Nabi is jettisoned after just that one over which means it is time for some wrist-spin, though in the form of Rahmat Shah rather than Rashid Khan.

And he starts with an absolute beaut, flight, drift and spin beating a timid forward prod from Bairstow. 

But a couple of singles bring Bairstow back to strike and he won’t be tied down by the part-timer, thumping him back over his head for the first maximum of the day!

13.0 – England 60/1, J Root 7, J Bairstow 25, Gulbadin 0-1 (1)

Hello! Gulbadin finds a little bit of seam movement off the surface at just under 80 mph, taking the outside edge of Bairstow and inside edge of Root with consecutive deliveries. The first signs of misbehaviour for either of Afghanistan’s seamers. 

A positive start for the captain, just Bairstow’s edged single from the over.

12.0 – England 59/1, J Root 6, J Bairstow 22, Mohammad Nabi 0-11 (1)

Into the attack comes the second of Afghanistan’s spin triumvirate, the fired off-spin of Mohammad Nabi, and Bairstow greets him with a powerful sweep through midwicket for four to prevent him settling in.

Nabi doesn’t turn the ball much and thus can’t afford to stray short, and Root pounces on a loose ball to close the over with a cut boundary past backward point. 

Jonny Bairstow crunched a cover drive through extra-cover off Mujeeb, but England have otherwise found the young spinner a tricky customer from which to score.

11.0 – England 48/1, J Root 2, J Bairstow 18, Mujeeb 0-18 (6)

The field spreads with the restrictions lifted, but Afghanistan have a couple of catchers in with the ball turning, a slip and a short midwicket.

A nice set of six again from Mujeeb. He’s bowled with great control.