England v Afghanistan preview, player tips & predictions

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MATCH INFO
England v Afghanistan
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester, Tuesday, June 18, 10.30am (British time)
Head to head odds: England $1.04; Afghanistan $11
Last time they met: England 1-101 (18.1 overs) d Afghanistan 7-111 (36.2 overs) in Sydney, March 13, 2015, under the Duckworth Lewis method.

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This is only the second meeting at ODI level between these two teams and here at the WGL we expect England to win and win pretty easily.

The home team has been imperious for the most part, with just the one slip-up coming against the unpredictable Pakistan.

Afghanistan have not done as well as they might have hoped before the tournament began, with spearhead Rashid Khan failing to do much damage with the ball, though he top-scored against South Africa on Saturday, much to the delight of the World Gambling List pundits who selected him to do as much at 33-1 with William Hill.

Thank you very much, Rashid!

Back to England. The top order batsmen are in good nick, especially Joe Root. And in newcomer Jofra Archer they have one of the most dangerous bowlers in the event. As we reach the halfway mark of the tournament England may switch things up a little to give a couple of fringe players some game time.

So keep that in mind before placing too many bets on this game.

This England v Afghanistan betting preview will run you through betting options for match 24 of 48 of the ICC World Cup 2019.

This is only the second match at this venue for this cricket World Cup so it’s worth checking who did well in the first game there, between India and Pakistan on Sunday.

England v Afghanistan odds:

For full markets visit the William Hill website.

HEAD TO HEAD BETTING:
England $1.04, Afghanistan $11

Prediction: No-brainer here. We have seen nothing to suggest Afghanistan can trouble England, particularly with spinners struggling to have a real impact against the top teams. But the $1.04 is the shortest head-to-head-head price we have seen in this tournament, and that’s a little too short for us to invest.

TOP RUN-SCORER BETTING:

England:
Top five in betting: Joe Root $3.75, Jason Roy $3.75, Jonny Bairstow $3.50, James Vince $4, Eoin Morgan $7.

Top scorers from past five ODIs:
v West Indies: Joe Root 100no
v Bangladesh: Jason Roy 153
v Pakistan: Joe Root 107
v South Africa: Ben Stokes 89
v Pakistan: Joe Root 84

Afghanistan:
Top five in betting: Hazratullah Zazai $4.50, Rahmat Shah $5.50, Noor Ali Zadran $5.50, Hashmatulla Shahidi $6, Asghar Afghan $6.50.

Top scorers from past five ODIs:
v South Africa: Rashid Khan 35
v New Zealand: Hashmatulla Shahidi 59
v Sri Lanka: Najibullah Zadran 43
v Australia: Najibullah Zadran 51
v Ireland: Mohammad Shahzad 101

Top batter prediction: As you can tell by looking at the top run-scorer betting for England, the sportsbooks believe England’s top three will have a field day against Afghanistan. We agree though believe someone such as Ben Stokes may be promoted up the order, especially if England bat first. Still, we have a had a great run selecting Joe Root to do well so we will stick with that player at $3.75. He’s tracking well to be a contender for player of the tournament. Of course, we struck Rashid Khan to be top-scorer for Afghanistan at the weekend at the juicy odds of 33-1. This time around we will play it much safer. Hazratullah Zazai ($4.50) has looked as fluent as any of his side’s batsman so he will do us here.

TOP WICKET-TAKER BETTING:

England:
Top five in betting: Jofra Archer $3.75, Adil Rashid $4.50, Chris Woakes $5, Liam Plunkett $5, Tom Curran $5, Mark Wood $5.

Top wicket-takers from past five ODIs:
v West Indies: Jofra Archer 3-30, Mark Wood 3-18
v Bangladesh: Jofra Archer 3-29, Ben Stokes 3-23
v Pakistan: Chris Woakes 3-71, Moeen Ali 3-50
v South Africa: Jofra Archer 3-27
v Pakistan: Chris Woakes 5-54

Afghanistan:
Top five in betting: Rashid Khan $2.37, Mujeeb Ur Rahman $4.50, Mohammad Nabi $4.50, Dawlat Zadran $6, Gulbadin Naib $6, Aftab Alam $6.

Top wicket-takers from past five ODIs:
v South Africa: Gulbadin Naib 1-29
v New Zealand: Aftab Alam 3-45
v Sri Lanka: Mohammad Nabi 4-30
v Australia: Mujeeb Ur Rahman 1-45, Gulbadin Naib 1-32, Rashid Khan 1-52
v Ireland: Gulbadin Naib 6-43

Top bowler tip: Jofra Archer and Mark Wood have genuine pace for England and have done well so far. The spinners, on the other hand, have struggled. But the way Afghanistan collapsed against Imran Tahir makes us think they may well struggled against England’s spin twin Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali ($6). We will back both of them and trust they will be given plenty of overs. Rashid Khan is our hero with the bat but has yet to really shine with the ball so we will back Mohammad Nabi to top Afghanistan’s wicket-takers.

WGL best bets: England v Afghanistan

Each of our ICC World Cup betting previews will highlight some potential wins for punters, or where our cricket tipsters think there is value to be found.

Joe Root man of the match at $8

Why not? He did the business for us at $9 against the West Indies on Friday and looks as though he will never get out. When you are on a good thing stick with it.

England to score most sixes and win

If you really want to open the shoulders as England’s batsmen seem certain to do, you can secure $1.40 about this outcome. Should be a given really. England just have way too much firepower in the batting department.

England v Afghanistan prediction

An easy win for England on their way to the semis. As always with matches in Britain, keep an eye on the weather. Good punting.

ALSO READ:
ICC World Cup 2019 betting guide
ICC World Cup 2019 leading wicket-taker
Cricket betting sites
ICC World Cup 2019 leading run-scorer
ICC World Cup 2019 player of tournament

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