England's ICC T20 World Cup campaign begins at Perth on Saturday, with a clash against big-hitting Afghanistan.
Cricket tips: ICC T20 World Cup Afghanistan v England
2pts Both Teams to Score 160+ Runs Each at 11/4 (Sky Bet)
We got an early sighter of the pitch in Perth when England and Australia played out a high-scoring match on this ground a couple of weeks ago, and I'm expecting more runs on Saturday.
To be precise, England racked up 208-6 in that match before Australia fell only eight runs short in reply, and while the bounce we can be sure to see in Perth will be alien to Afghanistan's top order, that pace in the wicket always means teams can score quickly if batting well.
Fearless Afghanistan always a threat
And that's when we've seen the best of this Afghanistan batting line-up. Though inconsistent, they have a number of quick scorers who go very hard up front, and even when scoring was tough at times at last year's T20 World Cup, the likes of Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Hazratullah Zazai all finished with strike-rates in excess of 100.
In the UAE, Afghanistan were involved in two of the highest scoring games of the competition – conceding 210 against India and posting 190-4 themselves against a Scotland bowling attack that dismantled the West Indies earlier this week.
While clearly not one for maximum faith, there are reasons to believe Afghanistan will sparkle at some stage in Australia if getting set on what are usually good pitches to bat on, and Perth might prove the ideal host for that.
Another pointer is an England bowling attack that is shorn of Jofra Archer and now Reece Topley, and has continually leaked runs when coming up aggressive batting line-ups on good pitches.
We saw further evidence of that against India and South Africa in the summer, and though Mark Wood's express pace could be Afghanistan's undoing on a surface like this, the rest of England's attack won't worry them too much if the sun shines and sideways movement is minimal.
England's batting hard to resist
As for England's own batting playing its part, there are no concerns on that score.
England's final warm-up saw them chase down 161 against Pakistan with ease, that coming on the back of 2-0 series win over Australia where Jos Buttler looked in sublime touch as he posted a couple of half-centuries.
Prior to that, there were excellent contributions from Harry Brook and Moeen Ali in the UAE, while Dawid Malan looked in silky touch in Pakistan, and has maintained that form since arriving in Australia.
Ordinarily, he'd my pick in the top England batsman market, especially in Perth, but I think he's a better player against pace than spin, and Afghanistan's attack might not be ideal for him in that respect.
Furthermore, Malan features heavily in my specials staking plan, so I'll happily cheer him on without backing him again on Saturday.
Runs look the way to go in this one, and 11/4 for BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE 160+ RUNS EACH (Sky Bet) looks a fair wager.
Preview posted at 1500 20/10/2022
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