England vs. Afghanistan
- What: ICC Cricket World Cup group game
- When: Tuesday 18 June
- Where: Old Trafford, Manchester
- Start time: 10.30am BST
- TV coverage: live on Sky Sports Cricket
England’s eight-wicket victory over the West Indies on Friday was marred by injuries to Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan.
Opening batsman Roy suffered a hamstring injury while captain Morgan suffered a back spasm.
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Roy has now been ruled out of England’s next two World Cup matches - against Afghanistan on Tuesday at Old Trafford and against Sri Lanka on Friday at Headingley.
In a statement the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said: “England batsman Jason Roy, who left the field during West Indies’ innings in the ICC Cricket World Cup fixture on Friday due to left hamstring tightness, underwent an MRI scan on Saturday in London.
“The MRI confirmed that Roy has suffered a hamstring tear. As a result of the injury, he will be reassessed on an ongoing basis this week.”
Morgan also underwent a scan at the weekend and the ECB confirmed his fitness will be monitored ahead of Tuesday’s match.
Vince and Buttler ready
James Vince is set for his World Cup debut against Afghanistan as England deal with the injury fall-out of their win over the West Indies.
Hampshire captain Vince is likely to replace opener Roy, even though Joe Root deputised ably on Friday, scoring a century.
Vince, if he does get the nod, will be under some pressure. He only has ten ODI caps for England, with a top score of 51 and an average of 28 – well below Roy’s mark of 42.
“England’s other option would be to ask Moeen Ali, who missed the games against Bangladesh and West Indies, to open the batting - a role he has not performed for three years,” says Lawrence Booth of the Mail on Sunday.
Should Morgan not be fit enough to face Afghanistan, Jos Buttler will captain the team.
Cricket.com says Buttler is “confident that keeping wicket, maintaining his status as the most destructive batsman in the middle order charge and leading the side would not put too much on his plate”.
Buttler said: “If it comes to captaining then it’s a huge honour any time you do it and from behind the stumps you have a really good view of what is going on.
“It’s down to you to manage and separate the two jobs, for the ten seconds when you are a wicketkeeper, do that to the best of your ability, then outside of that allow yourself to think about the game.”
Final could still be on free-to-air TV
The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup final could yet be shown on free-to-air TV in the UK according to International Cricket Council (ICC) chief David Richardson.
The tournament is being shown live on Sky Sports, with highlights on Channel 4 and clips on the BBC Sport website. However, Richardson confirmed that the ECB was “working with the Sky people to try to maximise the reach for the match”.
He told the BBC: “We are hopeful that something can be arranged in that regards.”
Channel 4 has been criticised for broadcasting the highlights late at night, but has said it aims to show England matches as early as possible and air other highlights in earlier slots as the tournament progresses.
Cricket World Cup fixtures
All matches are live on Sky Sports:
- Monday 17 June: West Indies vs. Bangladesh (10.30am)
- Tuesday 18 June: England vs. Afghanistan (10.30am)
- Wednesday 19 June: New Zealand vs. South Africa (10.30am)
- Thursday 20 June: Australia vs. Bangladesh (10.30am)
- Friday 21 June: England vs. Sri Lanka (10.30am)
- Saturday 22 June: India vs. Afghanistan (10.30am)
- Sunday 23 June: Pakistan vs. South Africa (10.30am)
- Monday 24 June: Bangladesh vs. Afghanistan (10.30am)
- Tuesday 25 June: England vs. Australia (10.30am)
- Wednesday 26 June: New Zealand vs. Pakistan (10.30am)
- Thursday 27 June: West Indies vs. India (10.30am)
- Friday 28 June: Sri Lanka vs. South Africa (10.30am)
- Saturday 29 June: Pakistan vs. Afghanistan (10.30am); New Zealand vs. Australia (1.30pm)
- Sunday 30 June: England vs. India (10.30am)
- See the full fixture list at cricketworldcup.com
