LAHORE: Afghanistan eliminated ragged England from the Champions Trophy with a stunning eight-run victory on Wednesday.
Opening batter Ibrahim Zadran smashed the tournament’s highest-ever individual score of 177 off 146 balls with 12 fours and six sixes and led Afghanistan to 325-7.
England were bowled out for 317 with Joe Root’s 120 off 111 balls going in vain.
Root had kept England in the hunt, but once he gloved Azmat Omarzai (5-58) behind the wickets in the 46th over, Afghanistan kept their nerve to record a memorable win with one ball to spare.
Afghanistan must beat two-time champion Australia in their last Group B match at the same venue Friday to seal its second straight semifinal in an ICC tournament after playing last year’s T20 World Cup playoffs.
England, who lost a high-scoring game to Australia at the same venue, will wrap up their disappointing run in the tournament with the match against semifinal contender South Africa at Karachi on Saturday.
Afghanistan eliminate England from Champions Trophy with 8-run win in Lahore
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Afghanistan eliminate England from Champions Trophy with 8-run win in Lahore
- Afghanistan’s Zadran smashes tournament’s highest-ever individual score of 177
- England were bowled out for 317 with Joe Root’s 120 off 111 balls going in vain
Supersub strikes again as Sesko gives Man United win at Everton
- The defeat was a blow to Everton’s hopes of a place in next year’s European competitions and left it languishing in ninth, behind Brentford and Bournemouth
LIVERPOOL, England: Manchester United supersub Benjamin Sesko scored 13 minutes after entering the field to give his side a 1-0 win over Everton in the Premier League on Monday.
It was the third time in four games that Sesko has scored after coming off the bench and secured points for United.
“I believe in me and so do the other players as well,” Sesko told Sky Sports. “They know what they are going to get when I arrive in the game. It’s up to me to deliver of course.”
His goal with 19 minutes remaining finished off the slickest move of an otherwise stodgy game.
Bryan Mbeumo controlled Matheus Cunha’s superb long ball and played a perfectly weighted pass to the feet of Sesko, who steered the ball past Jordan Pickford with aplomb.
“It was a great finish,” United interim coach Michael Carrick said. “It was a ruthless finish. I liked the way he put it away with real confidence. It was great play from Cunha and Mbeumo to set it up and we are dangerous on the break.”
Until then defenses had been on top and the lack of attacking fluency was not helped by a heavy pitch that appeared to slow down both teams.
The result took fourth-placed United three points clear of Chelsea and Liverpool. United was three behind Aston Villa.
It also extended Carrick’s unbeaten run to six games since he replaced Ruben Amorim on Jan. 13.
The defeat was a blow to Everton’s hopes of a place in next year’s European competitions and left it languishing in ninth, behind Brentford and Bournemouth and eight points adrift of Chelsea and Liverpool.
David Moyes’ men have gone seven games without a win at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium.
“Generally we did very well in lots of bits,” Moyes said. “We got done on the counterattack and they ran away and got the goal that was there. We put in a great effort to get the goal but lacked the quality to make it count.”
