Mark Wood hailed England’s “highlights reel” of catches as a superb fielding display helped secure a comfortable five-wicket victory over Afghanistan in their T20 World Cup opener.
Sam Curran was the star of the show, taking England’s first men’s T20 five-for as Afghanistan were rolled for 112, while Wood himself impressed in recording the fastest four-over spell in T20 World Cup history.
However, it was England’s fielding that was arguably their strongest suit. Liam Livingstone made vast ground to take a sensational diving catch off Ben Stokes early in the Afghanistan innings, while Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler all took screamers, too.
“The most pleasing thing was the catches,” Wood told Sky Sports. “It was like a highlights reel of four or five catches, you couldn’t pick which one was the best.
“We just felt ready for this game more than anything. The [warm-up] game against Pakistan up in Brisbane, we were sort of ready then. So we were desperate for a proper game.”
Net-run-rate could be a crucial factor in determining qualification from what looks a competitive pool, particularly if rain intervenes later in the tournament, and needing only 113 to win, England missed an opportunity to build theirs after taking 18.1 overs to get home in the chase.
Hosts Australia are already in a perilous position on that front, having been thrashed by 89 runs by New Zealand in their opener earlier on Saturday, but Wood said England were pleased simply to have a victory on the board.
“It’s easy to say that’s what you want to do,” the quick said of the possibility of chasing the target more swiftly. “That was the intention, but it was swinging, there was extra bounce and it’s not as easy as people think to just go out and blast it. The boundaries are massive as well.
“We went out there with that intention, it was talked about, but you have to just play smart cricket and get the win under our belt.
“They’re dangerous. They were one of the teams I felt that playing them first at this ground would suit us but they’re still dangerous. I’m sure they’ll beat one of the big teams and you just hope it’s not you, that they don’t have a day out.”
Meanwhile, captain Buttler paid tribute to Curran, who continued his fine form from recent series against Pakistan and Australia with the historic haul.
Curran missed last year’s World Cup through injury but has emerged as a key option for Buttler at the death this time around, an area where England struggled badly 12 months ago.
“He’s got great character for that role, he’s thriving with the extra responsibility,” Buttler added. |”He enjoys the tough moments and he demands the ball in those situations, which is a great attitude to have. We know it’s a really tough period of the game to bowl in and there’ll be days when it goes against you against good players. The most pleasing thing about Sam is he always wants the ball.”
