Manchester, Jun 18 (UNI) Riding on Eoin Morgan (148 runs off 70 balls) Jonny Bairstow (90 runs off 98 balls) and Joe Root (88 runs off 81 balls), England posted a mammoth total of 397 runs in the 24th World Cup match against Afghanistan at the Old Trafford here on Tuesday.
After opting bat first against Afghanistan, the hosts, suffered an early loss, when the opener James Vince walked to the pavilion after scoring 26 runs off 30 balls leaving England on 44/1 in 9.3 over.
Despite an early loss, England stayed strong and managed to stitched a 120-runs-partnership for the second wicket. Both Bairstow and Root played handsomely and pushed England to set a big total, but unfortunately, their partnership journey came to an end in 29.5 over when Bairstow had to walk to the pavilion as he was caught by Gulbadin Naib. Bairstow missed his century and was dismissed on a score of 90 runs. His innings included 8 fours and 3 sixes.
Bairstow dismissal forced England to play cautiously for sometime, but it again escalated as Root from the other end kept the score board running and took his time to settle down on the crease. He was well supported by England skipper Eoin Morgan who produce a clinical show and smashed 148 runs, the fourth-fastest World Cup century with the help of 17 fours and 4 fours.
The duo added 189 runs for the third wicket. Root after giving the most able support to Morgan departed on a score of 88 runs. He was caught by Rahmat Shah on Naib's ball in 46.4 over. Soon, after his dimissal Naib struck again and dismissed Morgan in the same over.

Later, Jos buttler who could have played a role of finisher, and could have added a couple runs in his team's mammoth total, was departed after scoring single digit 47.4 over. However, his dismissal didn't affect as the job was already done by the former batsmen.
Moin Ali and Ben Stokes took the charge in the last couple of overs. Ali scored 30 runs to and took England to 397 runs and remained unbeaten, while Stokes (2) was dismissed Dawlat Zadran.
For Afghanistan, Rashid Khan proved to be most expensive bowler as he spent 110 runs while Gulabdin Naib and Dawlat Zadran took three wickets each and spent 85 runs.
UNI XC AKC 1844