Rahmanullah gets Afghanistan off to flying start against England

England won the toss and decided to bowl first in the World Cup match against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday where star batsman Ben Stokes was again absent.

Flamboyant opening batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz smashed a 33-ball half-century as Afghanistan enjoyed a blistering start to their World Cup game against champions England.

The 21-year-old Rahmanullah clubbed seven fours and two sixes to reach his third ODI fifty before Afghanistan reached 100 without loss off 77 balls.

Rahmanullah was undefeated on 66 at the time with fellow opener Ibrahim Zadran on 24.

England newball bowler Chris Woakes conceded 31 off his first three overs.

England came into the game after a loss to New Zealand and victory over Bangladesh while Afghanistan suffered heavy defeats by six wickets to Bangladesh and eight wickets to India.

The two countries have only met twice before with England winning convincingly on both occasions -- by nine wickets at the 2015 World Cup in Sydney and 150 runs in Manchester four years ago.

Teams

England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (capt/wk), Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil (wkt), Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Umpires: Rod Tucker (AUS) and Sharfuddoula (BAN)

TV Umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS)

Match Referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)