England will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Afghanistan on Saturday but they have already been hit with injury concerns.
Reece Topley is out of the tournament with an ankle injury with Tymal Mills coming in to replace the bowler.
Liam Livingstone also made coaches nervous after he slipped on a return from an ankle injury but he is okay to continue. The player said: “It was actually nice to slip because it gives you a little bit of confidence.
“Considering I had a 12-week injury and we’re just at the end of week seven I’m pretty happy with where I’m at, and we’ve still got another few days before the first game.
“I didn’t want to go hell for leather, I just wanted to make sure I got back to cricket and got through my bowling. The turning and stuff was going to be difficult, so to have a slip on it and to feel all right is a bit of a confidence-booster.” But who is in the rosters and how can fans watch? Here’s all you need to know.
When is it?
The match will take place on Saturday, 22 October at 12pm BST.
How can I watch?
The fixture will be available to watch on Sky Sports and on their app SkyGo.
If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.
Team news
For England Reece Topley is out of the tournament due to injury but other than that the team have the pick of their squad.
Afghanistan, meanwhile, have no injury concerns.
Confirmed squads
England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashad, Phil Salt, Ben Stokes, Tymal Mills, David Wiley, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
Afghanistan: Mohammad Nabi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Azmatullah Omarzai, Darwish Rasooli, Farid Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Mujeeb ur Rahman,Naveen ul Haq, Qais Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Salim Safi, Usman Ghani.
Odds
England - 1/7
Afghanistan - 9/2
Prediction
It will be a great match for both sides to kick-off their World Cup campaigns with a tight fixture but England should be able to pull off the win.
