Cricket World Cup 2019: Afghanistan v Sri Lanka – live!

20th over: Sri Lanka 139-1 (Perera 63, Thirimanne 22). Thirimanne pushes Rashid through the offside for two before being foxed by a lovely ball that zips back sharply into the pad via a slight edge. Sure he’s a lovely bowler to watch.

19th over: Sri Lanka 136-1 (Perera 63, Thirimanne 19). Gulbadin puts himself out of his own misery and brings back Hamid Hassan in his stead. He spears a decent back of a length ball into Perera’s midriff that the batsman does well to steer down to third man, and then beats him for pace, for about the first time today. There’s pace to be found here if you can hit the right spot, particularly from the Cathedral Road End it would seem.

18th over: Sri Lanka 131-1 (Perera 61, Thirimanne 16). Rashid Khan sends down another tidy over, yielding only three runs, but they need him to get some wickets too now because Sri Lanka are on for 350-plus here, weather permitting.

More India clarification. Unsurprisingly, politics are involved, as Jim Graham explains:

“The IPL final was supposed to be on May 19^th, then fifteen days rest and the first game tomorrow. After the WC schedule was set in stone Modi called elections so the IPL final was moved to the 12^th so it didn’t clash with them. It does seem odd to mandate a fortnight’s rest so that the team then plays more often than anyone else but what do I know?”

17th over: Sri Lanka 128-1 (Perera 60, Thirimanne 14). Gulbadin has a shocker here as Sri Lanka continue to run well between the wickets, which is putting palpable pressure on the fielders, who’ve been prone to the odd fumble. Another no-ball from the captain gifts Perera a free hit and a chance to reach his half-century, which he can’t take initially because Gulbadin slants two identical wides beyond his reach. This is poor from the bowler, but emphatic from the batsman who finally gets his free hit and clobbers it high to the deep cover boundary for four – 50 up. Another no-ball gives Perera another free go, which is mowed along the ground to the very same spot. Time for a change, skip?

More talking toss, from Peter Salmon:

“Warming to this idea. England being the hosts, how about incorporate some quirky English competitions? Imagine Eoin Morgan and Aaron Finch chasing a wheel of cheese down a hill. Or Jason Holder bog-snorkelling against Virat Kohli. And who wouldn’t love to see Kane Williamson and Faf du Plessis gurning at each other. Winner gets to choose whether to bat or bowl, loser spends the match dressed as a Morris dancer and has to run between wickets making their bells jangle.”

You never know which of these ideas might be picked up by the ECB and incorporated into the Hundred. Though to be fair to Peter, they sound too entertaining and understandable to attract the interest of our marketing overlords.

16th over: Sri Lanka 109-1 (Perera 48, Thirimanne 11). Cheers greet the introduction of Rashid Khan, as do buzzers – overthrows from Hazrat gifting Thirimanne three from his first ball. Perera is then deceived by, it looks, pace and almost offers a return catch to the bowler. A nice drive down the ground brings Perera one closer to his half-century. A decent start from Rashid though – the variations he brings already apparent.

Thirimanne now has 3,000 ODI runs – so congratulations him. And that’s drinks.

15th over: Sri Lanka 104-1 (Perera 47, Thirimanne 7). More effortless strike-rotation from Sri Lanka, but Afghanistan will be pleased to have got some control back. Though they could do without Gulbadin needlessly over-stepping to grant Thirimanne a free hit, from which he cracks a short slower ball straight past the bowler for four, a brilliant adapted pull shot. Hundred up.

“Still don’t get the logic of India’s match getting delayed because the rules say no cricket for 15 days after IPL,” queries Kshitij Sikarwar. “The IPL finished on 12th May, world cup began on 30th May.Surely there is something wrong with the math.”

I think it might be to do with the stipulation that every side had to play some warm-up matches before 30 May.

14th over: Sri Lanka 95-1 (Perera 44, Thirimanne 1). A breakthrough at last, as the Sri Lanka captain holes out, bringing Thirimanne to the crease. The batsmen can still only deal in singles off Nabi, who concedes only three from the over. His four overs have gone for 13.

Another toss idea – imagine the mental-disintegration possibilities:

Karunaratne is out for the first time in the tournament. He seeks to loft Nabi over the top but doesn’t fully get hold of it and Najib scoops up a fairly comfortable catch at long-on. Nabi deserves that.

13th over: Sri Lanka 92-0 (Karunaratne 30, K Perera 43). Gulbadin, who briefly had to leave the field just now to patch up a cut on the elbow, continues. Karunaratne seizes on a shortish ball to pull it to deep square leg for two as the openers continue to score and run briskly without needing to go big. The opening five overs have given them a nice platform to just tick things over.

“Gotta say, I do like the idea of rock paper scissors instead of the toss,” writes Peter Salmon. “Best of five of course – can you imagine the tension rising in front of a full crowd as the captains face off? Who would be best of it out of the current crop do you think. Obviously best of all time would be Steve Waugh. Gazing at his inscrutable face at 2-2 would be hell. Plus I think eve if you did win, he’d somehow make you feel like you’d lost… I guess by sending out Hayden and Langer, or throwing the ball to McGrath.”

McGrath would obviously predict that every paper-scissors-stone series would end 5-0.

12th over: Sri Lanka 86-0 (Karunaratne 26, K Perera 41). Nabi swaps ends and has a go from the River Taff End. He finds some nice variety, in pace and length, and Karunaratne is discomfited by an arm ball that jags sharply back into his toes. They’re just dealing in ones off Nabi, who’s been Afghanistan’s main man so far.

11th over: Sri Lanka 83-0 (Karunaratne 25, K Perera 39). Gulbadin Naib comes on for Nabi, as Afghanistan revert to a spot of pace. There’s only one slip in now, with the bowlers having found surprisingly little in the air or off the pitch thus far. Gulbadin is offered a half-chance when Karunaratne’s uppish push down the pitch just eludes his return-catch attempt. It’s about as close as they’ve come to a wicket this morning, which will concern them.

10th over: Sri Lanka 79-0 (Karunaratne 23, K Perera 37). A better over from Mujeeb, who declines to offer width or freebies and the batsmen have to be content with three singles. Which I’m sure they will be – 79 off the first powerplay is a heck of an improvement after their horror show on this same surface on Saturday.

The busy Abhijato Sensarma elaborates on apparent Indian exceptionalism: “This quirk of the fixtures is because the Lodha Committee appointed by the Indian Supreme Court to oversee the BCCI has made it mandatory that the national team won’t play any official international cricket for at least 15 days after the IPL gets over. As a result, India’s opening match was postponed by two days and we landed up with the current set of fixtures. So, even more than BCCI, it’s the seemingly inconspicuous head of the Lodha Committee i.e. retired Indian High Court Judge Mukul Mugdal who runs global cricket behind the scenes!”

9th over: Sri Lanka 76-0 (Karunaratne 21, K Perera 36). The sage-like Kumar Sangakkar was wondering before the start whether Afghanistan might have been better off batting first given the pressure their spinners can apply with runs in the bank. It certainly feels like a good toss to lose. The batsmen rotate strike confidently through Nabi’s over, which is another decent one, without feeling the need to take him on. They don’t have to at the moment – they’re in total command.

8th over: Sri Lanka 71-0 (Karunaratne 17, K Perera 35). Perera seeks to jolt the spinners’ control, lofting Majeeb over to the long long-on boundary for a one-bounce four. It works, because Majeeb’s next ball is too short outside off and cut square with some venom for four more.

Back to tossers, Abhijato Sensarma adds both clarity and shade:

“In international cricket, the ‘home’ captain always tosses the coin while the ‘away’ captain calls a side. If the match is played at a neutral venue like in global tournaments such as these, a ‘home’ side as well as an ‘away’ side still needs to be chosen for official purposes. If Quora is to be believed, the decision generally depends on the proximity of the country to the venue (closer team is the ‘home’ side). In the case where the distance is virtually the same, the match referee decides which captain will toss and which captain will call.

So, the question persists in an altered manner – how does the match referee make a decision in the latter circumstance?

7th over: Sri Lanka 62-0 (Karunaratne 17, K Perera 27). A double change – Mohammad Nabi comes on at the Cathedral Road End as Afghanistan look to play to their spinning strengths. He finds some drift, control and purpose in the best over bowled so far, conceding only three singles.

“It’s probably been well covered already and I missed it,” writes Ben Bernards, preparing to answer his own question, “but other than a scandalous “BCCI rules all” explanation, is there a reason most teams are playing two games before India plays its first?”

6th over: Sri Lanka 59-0 (Karunaratne 16, K Perera 26). Afghanistan know they need to make changes, and turn to spin, Majeeb replacing the off-colour Hamid. And the flow of runs is stemmed until Perera clips the final ball of the over away on the onside for four. A decent over but it still yielded seven

“These various religious conversion efforts that are following Jarrod Kimber around are all well and good,” writes Harkarn Sumal, teeing up an elegant play on words. “But yesterday we saw Root and Buttler become the first cricketers to convert from fifties to centuries, yet it still wasn’t enough for us to be saved. We’ll just have to hope for a resurrection on Saturday.”

5th over: Sri Lanka 52-0 (Karunaratne 11, K Perera 24). Perera wallops Dawlat over midwicket for four more, and another boundary ensues when the bowler’s overcooked bouncer flies over the head of the keeper and down to the short boundary. Perera punishes another one that’s pushed to the legside and flicks it to the ropes at fine leg to take Sri Lanka to 50 already. Afghanistan need to regroup a bit here – they’ve conceded several wides already too. A few spots of rain have intruded.

4th over: Sri Lanka 37-0 (Karunaratne 11, K Perera 10). Hamid hasn’t found his radar at all yet, conceding four wides with another wayward delivery slanted too far across Perera and down the legside. Perera senses this and thumps him high over mid-off for four. Karunaratne joins the fun too with a deliciously timed clip for four on the onside to the long boundary in the corner. This is a perky start indeed from Sri Lanka.

3rd over: Sri Lanka 21-0 (Karunaratne 6, K Perera 13). Dawlat looks to be getting more lift and movement from the surface at this end. And he sends down a good over, conceding only the one. Karunaratne already looks bedded in for the anchor role again.

“Good Morning Tom!” Good morning Neil Kempson. “I was wondering if you know how they decide which of the captains performs the actual coin toss? And I assume in today’s electronic world that there are statistics on a captain’s toss win percentage based on whether they were the tosser or caller…”

I was just wondering the same thing. Do they toss for the toss? Play paper-scissors-stone? Arm wrestle? Is it predetermined over all group fixtures which captain calls? Do tell, someone.

2nd over: Sri Lanka 20-0 (Karunaratne 6, K Perera 12). Hamid Hasan opens up from the other end and his first ball is pulled emphatically to the square leg boundary for four by Perera, who then pushes firmly through the offside for a well-run three. A leg-bye is followed by a crunching straight drive for four from Perera. They’re scampering well between the wickets too. This is an encouraging statement of intent from the openers.

1st over: Sri Lanka 5-0 (Karunaratne 4, K Perera 0). A steady opening from both sides. Sri Lanka shuffle it around a bit and send Kusal Perera in up top at the expense of Thirimanne, who fell in the first over on Saturday. Dawlat Zadran opens the bowling from the Cathedral Road End, finding a bit of early bounce and pace and a good probing line around the left-handed Karunaratne’s off-stump until he strays down leg and concedes the first wide, and run, of the day before Karunartne nudges the penultimate ball of the over, which is also too far to leg, down to the fine leg boundary for four.

Anthem time – Sri Lanka’s agreeably jaunty if overlong, Afghanistan’s a tad more traditional and brisk. There aren’t loads of people in the ground as yet, but should still be enough to fashion a passable atmosphere.

And before we start, some England-related watching matter:

Cricket extends its reach:

The teams

Afghanistan: Shahzad, Hazratullah, Rahmat, Shahidi, Nabi, Naib, Najibullah, Khan, Zadran, Ur Rahman, Hamid.

Sri Lanka: Karunaratne, Thirimanne, K Perera, K Mendis, Mathews, Dhananjaya, T Perera, Udana, Lakmal, Pradeep, Malinga.

So Afghanistan keep faith with the XI that lost to Australia, persisting with the three-pronged spin attack, and Sri Lanka make one change – Pradeep for Jeevan Mendis. It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, the Afghan twirlers can get out of this pitch

There’s a shower due at 11am, apparently and typically.

Gulbadin Naib calls correctly and opts to subject Sri Lanka to a first bat here once again. Good conditions for bowlers, he says.

An opening email gambit from Abhijato Sensarma: “On 2nd June, Bangladesh played like the absolute stars they are. On 3rd June, Pakistan and Hasan Ali’s fortunes were intertwined as always – they weren’t perfect, but disciplined enough at a ground which usually provides only misery to the bowlers. On 4th June, I put my hand up in favour of a Trinity of UpsetsButNotUpsets. Afghanistan & Mujeeb, I believe you will go out there and, like your Asian brothers, be at your best too!”

The weather, it must be said, isn’t great at Sofia Gardens (what’s with all this “Cardiff Wales Stadium” hasty rebranding nonsense?), so it could be another seamer’s paradise, which I don’t suspect will delight either side greatly.

Another foreboding stat for Sri Lanka (courtesy of Cricinfo) is that they’ve lost every single Test and ODI they’ve played in Cardiff. Anyway, while we’re stating, here’s some reading matter to run your eye over, from Ali Martin and Andy Bull:

And something to run your ears over from last week:

Morning everyone. Well, we’ve got ourselves a tournament. After some limp mismatches on Friday and Saturday, Bangladesh and Pakistan have since brought the noise – registering thrilling upsets against South Africa and England respectively, and the cards have been thrillingly thrown in the air. If you’re going to have this interminable league format, then this is the sort of compellingly unpredictable stuff you want to happen.

So if you haven’t got Cricket World Cup fever now, you probably want to have a bit of a word with yourself. But back to Saturday’s non-contests: today its two defeated victims lock horns in a match that some have described already as the wooden-spoon decider and, even more insultingly, “one for the hipsters”. All of which is a tad belittling to, respectively, one of the most improved teams in world cricket in recent years and another who’ve been world champions once and runners-up twice.

None the less, Sri Lanka’s dismal form has shown little sign of improving. Their 10-wicket shellacking by New Zealand means they have now lost 25 of their last 29 one-day internationals. Their shot selection in Cardiff on Saturday was woeful and their attack had no answer to the Black Caps’ assertive openers. Afghanistan put up more of a fight against a resurgent Australia, and if their openers can hang around longer than they did at Bristol on Saturday you’d fancy them to make a competitive total here, although Cardiff’s green top will present its own challenges. And they’ve got Rashid Khan, one of the most watchable white-ball players in the whole world. This will be worth following.