Buttler chases perfect game, memories of WC shock boost Afghanistan for England clash

England captain Jos Buttler on Tuesday said his team is confident despite their opening defeat in the Champions Trophy as they chase a “perfect game” against Afghanistan.

The clash in Lahore on Wednesday has become a virtual knockout after Tuesday’s Group B match between Australia and South Africa was washed out with the two teams sharing one point each.

England lost their opener to Ashes rivals Australia in the eight-nation tournament after they failed to defend their total of 351-8 at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.

South Africa hammered Afghanistan in their first match.

“Pretty much from the start of the tournament every game is a ‘must win’,” Buttler told reporters.

“We’ve got two games left to progress further. We have to win those games so that’s a very clear situation for us to be in.”

Buttler also said he had faith in his pace bowling attack in spite of the pasting they received at the hands of Australia.

“We’ve got great confidence in those guys,” said Buttler.

“Level of performance was good and as always there’s little areas we want to improve and chase that perfect game.

Jofra Archer went for 82 off his 10 overs as Josh Inglis hammered an unbeaten 120. Mark Wood conceded 75 and Brydon Carse, who will miss the rest of the tournament because of a toe injury, went for 69 off seven.

“The debrief (to the quicks) was pretty easy, to be honest. We all felt that we did good things in places and probably just weren’t quite consistent enough in a couple of areas.

“And also sometimes you’ve got to give credit to someone who plays an outstanding innings.”

Buttler said his team has put the defeat aside to focus on the Afghanistan game.

“We’ve parked that now,” he said. “We’re looking forward to the game tomorrow. The guys have all prepared really well, we’ve turned up with a lot of positivity and trying to impart our style of playing.

Buttler hasn’t had the best of results as captain of the white-ball team since he led the team to a T20 World Cup title in 2022.

Buttler’s England won only three of their nine matches as defending champions at the 50-over World Cup in India in 2023.

The team faltered in the semi-final of last year’s T20 World Cup and recently suffered a 3-0 ODI whitewash in India ahead of the Champions Trophy.

“At any time as a captain you want to perform and you want to perform well and you want to lead your team to winning games in cricket. We haven’t been doing that enough in the recent past,” said Buttler.

England suffered a shock loss to Afghanistan in the 2023 ODI World Cup in New Delhi and Buttler said he “respects” the opposition and their top-class spinners, including Rashid Khan.

But he insisted England would be eliminating the negative and accentuating the positive.

“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,” he said.

England will be forced to make at least one change for Wednesday’s match after Carse was ruled out of the tournament and replaced in the squad by leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi warned England on Tuesday that memories of their famous 2023 World Cup win over the then holders gives them the confidence to pull off a Champions Trophy surprise.

Both teams need a win on Wednesday in Lahore to keep alive their hopes of reaching the semi-finals in the 50-over tournament after losing their respective openers.

The match is a virtual knockout after Tuesday’s Group B fixture between Australia and South Africa was washed out without a ball being bowled and the teams shared a point each.

Afghanistan shocked England in 2023 when they humbled the defending world champions by 69 runs in New Delhi. Afghanistan’s rise in white-ball cricket has been rapid.

“We worked hard to achieve at this level and are ready to play every game in a positive way,” Shahidi said on the eve of the pivotal Group B clash.

Agencies