England beaten by Afghanistan by eight runs to crash out of ICC Champions Trophy despite Joe Root century
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2024/12/13/image-5a252a03-4dbd-47d0-92a0-8fd4a8d70019-68-310-310.jpeg)
Updated 26/02/2025 at 18:36 GMT
React to this story
England's ICC Champions Trophy hopes are over following defeat at the hands of Afghanistan. Following a loss to Australia in their opening match, England needed a win a Lahore to stay in the competition, however, despite a brilliant Joe Root century, they were unable to chase down Afghanistan who won by eight runs.
McCullum: Buttler will go down as probably greatest white-ball player England has produced
Video credit: TNT Sports
England are out of the ICC Champions Cup following a nervy eight-run defeat to Afghanistan in Lahore.
Upon losing their Group B opener to Australia, Jos Buttler's men entered the encounter knowing only a win would keep their Champions Cup hopes alive.
Afghanistan duly piled on the pressure with a total of 325/7, with Ibrahim Zadran racking up some 177 runs.
England then went on to lose two wickets inside ten overs before Joe Root hauled his side into contention with a magnificent 120 off 111 deliveries.
However, the 34-year-old fell with England needing just 39 off the final 25 balls and the lower order subsequently collapsed.
Jamie Overton (32) and Jofra Archer's (14) tallies saw England at one point needing just 17 runs from 14 balls with three wickets in hand. Indeed, final pair Adil Rashid and Mark Wood needed just 13 runs in the final over.
But they only managed singles from the first four balls before Rashid was caught off the penultimate delivery to see England dismissed for 317.
The loss is just the latest blow in what has been an extremely disappointing winter for England’s men, who have also fallen to a three-Test series defeat in Pakistan, a one-day international series defeat against West Indies and a battering in the ODI and T20 series in India.
The defeat sees England slip to seventh in the ODI rankings, having lost nine of their 10 white-ball matches this year.
- How 'perfect storm' could see Brendon McCullum's England emulate glorious Ashes winners of 2010/11 in Australia in 2025
- Brendon McCullum defends England's preparation for ODI series defeat against India - 'We’ve done lots of training'
Butler future on the line?
Ahead of the game, captain Buttler admitted his future as skipper may be on the line against Afghanistan.
England's elimination marks their third disappointing white-ball tournament in succession under the 34-year-old, after failed defences of the 50 and 20-over World Cups in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
"It's tough to say, stood here right now, and I don't want to make any sort of emotional statements," Buttler told Sky Sports when asked about his England future. "But I think it's fair to say that you've got to consider all possibilities."
"I've enjoyed it [the captaincy]. I've seen lots of people say it doesn't sit well with me, but I do enjoy it. I enjoy the challenge.
"Obviously I don't enjoy losing games of cricket and the results. And of course when they're not going well, you do look at yourself in the mirror and say, 'Am I part of the problem or am I part of the solution?' I think that's what I've got to work out."
Defeat now leaves Buttler under immense pressure.
Related Topics
Advertisement
Advertisement