Champions Trophy: England thinking positive for Afghanistan clash

England captain Jos Buttler is focusing on the positives heading into his team’s must-win Champions Trophy clash against Afghanistan on Wednesday in Lahore.

The 2019 Cricket World Cup winner acknowledges that his side’s form has not been good enough over the past two years, with just seven wins from their last 24 matches.

However, with a washout of the Australia vs South Africa clash in Group B, England remain a live chance of making the final four this week in Pakistan — a fact Buttler is choosing to focus on.

“I think any time as an England captain, you want to perform, you want to perform well and you want to lead your team to winning games of cricket,” he said.

“We haven’t been doing that enough in the recent past.

“But as soon as you catch yourself thinking about any negative things, you just try and completely forget that and focus on all of the positive things that could go right and where you can take the team.”

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Should England lose to Afghanistan, they will be out of the Champions Trophy, while Buttler’s position as captain will be under serious threat.

Cricket bookmakers have England pegged as $1.28 favourites to win, but Buttler is under no illusions about what is on the line.

“From the start of the tournament, we knew pretty much every game is a must win,” he said.

“We’ve got two games left and to progress further, we know we have to win those games.

“So that’s a very clear situation for us to be in.

“There’s little areas we want to improve and chase that perfect game.”

In their opening game on Saturday, England were impressive with the bat, putting on 8/351 against Australia.

However, late dew made batting conditions even easier for Australia, leading to the biggest successful chase in ICC tournament history.

Still, Buttler is not worried about winning the toss against Afghanistan, as he is more concerned about England delivering on what they can control.

“In the Australia game, the dew did come in and second innings skidded on a bit better,” he said.

“Each game is individual, you’ve got to play well, and the toss doesn’t guarantee a result either.

“Whatever happens at the toss, we need to put in a level of performance to win the game.”

England are at long odds of $8 with Marantelli Bet to finish top of Group B, while they are paying $9.50 to go on and claim the title.

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