Thread by @fwildecricket

🇦🇫-🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 tactics thread. No team has a bigger bat-first toss preference than Afghanistan & no team has a bigger chasing preference than England so the toss should sort itself out in this one - unless Afghanistan get spooked into chasing by the rain. #T20WorldCup

Conditions in Perth (short straight & lots of pace & bounce) will make life harder for Afghanistan’s spinners. Expect quicks to go into the pitch a lot. The majority of the interest in this game lies in England’s strong batting v Afghanistan’s strong bowling. #T20WorldCup

Rashid has taken 4-31 off 49 balls v Buttler. Afghanistan generally backload him but must be tempted to bowl him early against England’s best batter. Mujeeb remains a good match-up though & it’d be a surprise if they moved away from their system. #T20WorldCup

If England leave Brook out to accommodate the extra bowler—which appears to be Buttler’s preference—England will be quite LH heavy through the middle (Malan, Stokes, Moeen & Curran) which should suit Mujeeb & Nabi & places importance on Livingstone v off spin. #T20WorldCup

Livingstone has an elite H2H v Rashid: 115-4 (65) so that could be a key battle; particularly if they do hold Rashid back as they generally like to do. It wouldn't be a surprise to see him come in at four if Malan is still at the crease to avoid pairing LHs. #T20WorldCup

Afghanistan rely on solid starts in their PP while England’s bowling is heavily front-loaded & getting through the period is critical to beating them. England average 17 runs per wicket in the Powerplay in wins & 59 in losses. #T20WorldCup

Through the middle and back-end Mark Wood's pace will be very valuable. Afghanistan's middle order has some issues against pace & bounce & the pitch & dimensions at Perth should accentuate that challenge. #T20WorldCup

So England have gone with batting-heavy. That's an aggressive selection. It means they have to get through Stokes, Moeen & Livingstone as the fifth bowler but they have incredible batting power & an extra middle order RH to counter Mujeeb & Nabi in the middle. #T20WorldCup

Two interesting charts focussed on Afghanistan's batting Powerplay. Avoiding early wickets is key to success for Afghanistan to a greater degree than most other teams while having good bowling Powerplays is a key to success for England - who are very front-loaded. #T20WorldCup

England using Stokes with the new ball is a product of their batting-heavy strategy: they need to get through four overs of him, Moeen & Livingstone, so giving Stokes the first a) gets through one of the fifth bowler & b) potentially enhances his swing strength. #T20WorldCup

Well-managed Powerplay from Buttler. With this team & attack balance England need to err on the side of aggression with bowling changes early on, looking to get ahead of the game before the death. Woakes for three & Wood for two were the most attacking options. #T20WorldCup

Every ball bowled by Mark Wood today has been above 140 kph. That makes it the fastest four over spell in T20 World Cup history (no one else has ever bowled 24 balls above 140 kph in a World Cup). His average speed of 149 kph is also a record. #T20WorldCup

That was close to the perfect performance with the ball and in the field from England. Buttler used his bowlers aggressively, front-loading his new ball options & getting through Stokes in easier overs (1 and 7). They'll meet tougher tests but very impressive start. #T20WorldCup

We were speculating about whether Afghanistan would use Rashid early to take on Buttler - now that they are only defending 113 he should definitely bowl early. #T20WorldCup

England making slightly heavy work of this chase. With Malan and Stokes paired Afghanistan will probably turn to Nabi now. Mujeeb also has one over left. Typically both Malan & Stokes would reverse but might be harder on a bouncy Perth track. #T20WorldCup