England go into their ICC Champions Trophy game against Afghanistan on Wednesday on the precipice of an early elimination, were they to follow up their opening loss to Australia with another defeat.
Live ICC Champions Trophy Cricket
Wednesday 26th February 8:30am
Despite an encouraging England batting display – in which Ben Duckett struck 165 – Australia chased down an ICC tournament-record 352 to win on Saturday, with Josh Inglis finishing on 120 not out.
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Highlights of England up against Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy in Lahore
England’s bowling attack struggled, with Brydon Carse’s seven overs costing 69 runs as he struggled with the reoccurrence of a toe injury that has since ruled him out of the rest of the competition, while Archer (1-82) had numerous spells off the field with cramp before bowling an expensive final five overs.
Archer, a star performer in England’s 2019 50-over World Cup win, has spent much of the subsequent six years on the sidelines due to a persistent elbow injury and a stress fracture to his back suffered in 2022.
“I was also a bit worried looking at Jofra when he came back on,” Michael Atherton said on the latest Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
“You’ve got a guy who has had a lot of time away from cricket, so you have to give him time to find his best form again, but Simon Doull did a bit of analysis on the tele on differences between his action in 2019 and now.
“Jofra pre-injury had a high arm and that snap of the wrist [through his bowling action], and it didn’t quite look like that to me.
“He got punished – 49 runs from his final five overs – at a crucial moment, when Jos Buttler threw him the ball in the hope of closing the game out.”
