England won the toss at the Oval and invited Afghanistan to bat, enjoying early success when Hazratullah Zazai attempted an ugly flog off Jofra Archer and was caught by Moeen Ali. THen Rahmat Shah fell to the same bowler after a mistimed pull shot. Noor Ali Zadran then made 30, before he was bowled by Ben Stokes, whilst the next man to fall was Asghar Afghan, lbw to Joe Root for 10.
Hashmatullah Shahidi and Gulbadin Naib put on 20, but then both fell in the space of three balls, Shahidi run out by Liam Plunkett for 19, and Naib caught by Stokes off the bowling of Ali. Two more wickets fell in the following over bowled by Joe Root, Najbullah Zadran run out, and then Rashid Khan out for a duck. Root then picked up his third wicket, having Aftab Alam caught, to reduce Afghanistan to 127 – 9. An excellent last wicket stand between Mohammad Nabi and Dawlat Zadran though added 33, before Nabi, who had hit 3 sixes in his 44, was caught by Jonny Bairstow off Archer. Zadran was undefeated on 20, as Afghanistan were bowled out for 160 in the 39th over.
Root finished with 3 for 22, and Archer 3 for 32.
In reply Jason Roy and Bairstow put on 77 for the first English wicket until Bairstow fell for 39, stumped off the bowling of Nabi. But Roy and Root ten combined as England cruised to victory in just the 18th over. Roy hit 89 not out off just 46 balls, including 4 sixes, whilst Root was undefeated on 29.
In the other game, Australia beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in their World Cup warm-up match.
Sri Lanka won the toss in Southampton and opted to bowl first.
Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne put on 44 for the first wicket until Karunaratne was caught behind off Kane Richardson for 16. Thirimanne and Kusal Perera added 27, but then Perera was lbw to Glenn Maxwell for 12. Thirimanne and Kusal Mendis took the score past the hundred mark, before Thirimanne was bowled by Nathan Lyon for 56. Mendis was caught by Lyon off fellow spinner Adam Zampa, and then Angelo Mathews, who had made 17, was caught and bowled by Steve Smith.
Zampa then struck again to remove Jeevan Mendis, before Dhananjaya de Silva and Thisara Perera put on 64 for the seventh wicket. Perera was caught by Maxwell off Pat Cummins for 27, and de Silva, bowled by Mitchell Starc for 41, was the last wicket to fall as Sri Lanka closed on 239 – 8.
In reply, Australia lost Aaron Finch early, lbw to Nuwan Pradeep, but Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh then put on 80 for the second wicket until Shaun Marsh was caught for 34 off the bowling of de Silva. Khawaja then combined with Glenn Maxwell in a stand of 65, which was broken when Maxwell was out for 34, with Milinda Siriwardana the bowler.
Usman then shared a partnership of 42 with Marcus Stoinis, until the latter fell to Jeffrey Vandersay for 32. Usman fell before the end for 89, but Alex Carey and Cummins steered their side home with more than 5 overs to spare.