England survive scare against Afghanistan

The match in a tweet: England survive huge scare! Impressive fightback keeps semi-final hopes alive after Afghanistan rip through top order.

The collapse: England were in danger of suffering an embarrassing defeat when their innings came unstuck in the sixth over with three wickets in four balls. Already one down having lost Jason Roy early on, spinner Mohammad Nabi struck with the third delivery of his first over to remove James Vince. The very next ball, captain Eoin Morgan joined him in the pavilion after leaving a ball that held its line and cannoned into his stumps. The hat-trick ball produced a vocal and optimistic appeal for leg before another breakthrough the very next delivery, a terrible mix-up costing Joe Root his wicket and reducing England to 4-42.

The turning point: The top-order collapse meant England were heading towards a total of less than 120 until Moeen Ali and David Willey turned the match by hammering 25 from the 19th over of the innings. Morgan's men were 7-85 after 14.3 when Willey came to the crease and the pair had crept the score to 107 when Amir Hamza prepared to deliver his final over. Three sixes and a four followed in the next six balls thanks to some brilliant hitting from the left-handed duo and suddenly a score above 140 was well within reach.

The heroes: With both bat and ball, allrounders Moeen and Willey were the match-winners for England. Batting at No.7 and No.9, the duo shared an unbeaten 57-run stand to dig their side out of trouble before both struck crucial blows with the ball. Willey produced impressive swing with the new ball, finding the edge of key man Mohammad Shazhad with his first delivery and trapping him LBW later in the first over to ram home England's advantage. The left-armer finished with figures of 2-23 from four overs while Moeen was also effective with his off-spin, grabbing the wicket of Rashid Khan.

The support cast: England's bowlers delivered a brilliant team performance, but the form of Liam Plunkett was arguably the biggest talking point. The right-armer was called in for fellow quick Reece Topley and picked ahead of spinner Liam Dawson for this match and repaid the faith of selectors, opening with a maiden and conceding just 12 runs from his four overs. Having missed out on England's initial 15-man squad, the Yorkshireman has suddenly announced himself as a key member of their attack.

The consolation effort: While Nabi's first over created all the headlines, leg-spinner Rashid Khan continued his strong tournament with two wickets of his own. Still just 17, Rashid built on Nabi's performance by removing Ben Stokes and Chris Jordan to finish with 2-17 from four overs, identical figures to those of Nabi. Afghanistan's rise up the world rankings has been exciting for world cricket and the likes of Rashid give hope that the future of the national side is in good hands.

The stat: Having managed just 98 runs from 17 overs, Moeen and Willey hammered 44 from the final three overs to turn the match England's way.

The wash-up: England's campaign was teetering on the edge midway through their innings, but they are suddenly in a strong position to advance to the semi-finals. Eoin Morgan's side are now on four points with a match against Sri Lanka still to come on Saturday. Victory there will see them progress while a loss will leave them relying on other results to go their way. Afghanistan are now officially out of contention and will be playing for pride in their final match against the West Indies on Sunday.