A brilliant century from Joe Root was was not enough as England lost a thrilling Champions Trophy clash against Afghanistan by eight runs, ending their campaign in the group phase in Lahore on Wednesday.
Afghanistan had famously defeated England in the 2023 ODI World Cup in New Delhi and piled on more white-ball misery on their opponents in Lahore.
Root looked like taking England home in a must-win match, scoring a sensational 120 from 111 balls. However, he struggled with cramps as the innings wore on, limiting his ability to take quick runs.
Root tried to upper cut star of the day Azmatullah Omarzai but could only edge one behind, leaving England at 287-7.
Jamie Overton was England's last real hope but he holed out in the deep for a well made 32 from 28 balls.
Adil Rashid was out to the penultimate ball of the match, caught down the ground to give Omarzai his fifth wicket to go with his crucial 41 from 31 in the first innings.
England were bowled out for 317, which brought an early end to their Champions Trophy campaign after defeats to Australia and Afghanistan. They failed to progress from the first round in the 2023 ODI World Cup as well. England had also failed to defend their T20 world title last year.
Omarzai finished with 5-58, while no England batsman apart from Root made a sizeable contribution.
Afghanistan's hero of the day, however, was opener Ibrahim Zadran who continued his rise as a pillar of Afghanistan's batting.
Zadran's record innings of 177 rescued his team from an early wobble and helped post a massive 325-7 at the Qaddafi Stadium.
The Group B clash was a knockout with the losing team out of the semi-final race.
England would have thought they had the game wrapped up early when Afghanistan slipped to 37-3 inside nine overs with pace spearhead Jofra Archer breathing fire.
But this Afghanistan side is masterful at maneouvering out of a hole in Asian conditions, as they showed during an impressive run in the 2023 World Cup.
Zadran first steadied the ship with a fourth-wicket partnership of 103 with skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, who made 40.
The 23-year-old then added 111 for the sixth wicket with veteran all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, who hit 40 in 24 balls, to take the score past 300.
Zadran took apart the England bowling at the death and went past his previous ODI best of 162 in his 146-ball innings which included 12 fours and six sixes.
He not only broke his own record for Afghanistan's highest individual ODI score but also a tournament record, days after Ben Duckett's 165 against Australia.
It was a rough day for England in the field and Afghanistan took full advantage. Fast bowler Mark Wood picked up an injury that forced him out of the field twice.
All-rounder Liam Livingstone too complained of a foot trouble later in the innings as Jos Buttler struggled to find bowlers to complete 50 overs.
That was not the case at the start of the match as fast bowler Archer struck three early blows including two in one over starting with Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who was castled for six.
Archer and Wood both operated at pace in excess of 90mph but Wood's absence after bowling just four overs allowed Zadran to rebuild alongside Shahidi.
Leg-spinner Rashid finally broke the stand as he bowled Shahidi who failed to connect an attempted reverse sweep.
Zadran reached his seventh ODI ton with a single of Livingstone as he and Omarzai changed gears in a brisk stand of 72 before Omarzai departed for 41.
Zadran kept on attacking as he hit a six and three fours off Archer. He finally fell to Livingstone, who also sent back Nabi in the final over.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
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Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Analysis
Maros Sefcovic is juggling multiple international trade agreement files, but his message was clear when he spoke to The National on Wednesday.
The EU-UAE bilateral trade deal will be finalised soon, he said. It is in everyone’s interests to do so. Both sides want to move quickly and are in alignment. He said the UAE is a very important partner for the EU. It’s full speed ahead - and with some lofty ambitions - on the road to a free trade agreement.
We also talked about US-EU tariffs. He answered that both sides need to talk more and more often, but he is prepared to defend Europe's position and said diplomacy should be a guiding principle through the current moment.
