Sam Billings: The English cricketer seems to have enjoyed his teammates’ athleticism at the Perth Stadium tonight.
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A brutal English cricket team flexed its T20I muscle against comparatively weaker Afghanistan in the ongoing second Super 12 match of ICC T20 World Cup 2022.
Captain Jos Buttler’s decision of electing to bowl first after winning the toss resulted in his bowlers and fielders joining hands to register a quintessential team effort to bundle out the opposition for 112 in 19.4 overs.
An innings which lacked intent on the back of poor execution was devoid of big shots prompting Afghan batters to only manage eight fours and three sixes during their 118-ball stay in the middle at the Perth Stadium.
Sam Billings considers England’s fielding vs Afghanistan at Perth Stadium beyond belief
England batter Sam Billings, who is not part of their 15-member squad for this World Cup, took to social media platform Twitter to express admiration for his teammates’ performance on the field.
Billings, who uploaded a couple of tweets, laid emphasis on England’s fantastic fielding in the match. While all the 10 Afghan batters were dismissed after handing catches to fielders (one caught and bowled), England batter Liam Livingstone, spinner Adil Rashid and Buttler were the pick of their fielders tonight.
It was just after the powerplay that Livingstone held a brilliant catch whilst running towards his right from sweeper cover to dismiss Hazratullah Zazai. In the 15th over, Rashid backtracked from mid-wicket to complete another sensational catch to dismiss Najibullah Zadran.
Buttler’s chance came in the following over when he didn’t let go of an opportunity to impress by registering a one-handed stunner down the leg-side to send his counterpart Mohammad Nabi back to the pavilion.
Although supported well by their fielders, English bowlers consisted of all-rounder Sam Curran emerging as a pinnacle on the back of a maiden T20I five-wicket haul. The 24-year old player picked career-best T20 bowling figures of 3.4-0-10-5. Other than Curran, all-rounder Ben Stokes and fast bowler Mark Wood picked a couple of wickets each on Saturday.
