Five-star Sam Curran gives England T20 World Cup lift-off

At Perth Stadium on Saturday, England caught as though their fingers were covered in superglue.

Chances stuck in improbable style as if the fielders themselves were superhuman.

All 10 Afghanistan wickets fell to catches, many spectacular, as the Afghans made just 112 after being sent into bat.

Sam Curran took 5-10 - the left-armer the first to take five wickets for England in a T20 international - and only the No 3 and No 4 batsmen Ibrahim Zadran and Usman Ghani, who hit a run-a-ball 32 and 30 respectively, ensured even a modest score.

Faced with opponents playing an extra batsmen, adding depth to an already dazzling line-up, the Afghans were out of it before “the chase” had started.

That said, their strength is their bowling and although they never threatened a heist, they did make England work hard for a five-wicket win achieved with just 11 balls left.

Clearly there is room for improvement for England with the bat, with only an unbeaten 29 from Liam Livingstone taking the eye, but the most important thing was to start the competition with a win that confirmed their status as one of the favourites.

Curran, named player of the match, remarked: “They made it quite tricky for us towards the end; we know that they’ve got world-class spinners, but it’s good to get that first victory under our belts.

“We saw in the qualifiers with the West Indies missing out that anyone can beat anyone, and we will take confidence from this result into our next game (against Ireland on Wednesday).

“With my bowling, I’m just trying to be as adaptable as possible and get better at playing in different phases of the game and contributing to the team as much as I can.

“I didn’t expect to be walking off like that (with figures of 5-10), but it was a great performance by the boys in the field, with Liam Livingstone’s catch getting us started and setting the standard for the rest of the innings.”

The score was 35-1 in the seventh over when Livingstone pulled off the catch of the night, sprinting from backward-point to claim an uppercut by Hazratullah Zazai off Ben Stokes with a full-length dive.

Earlier, Mark Wood had struck with his first delivery - the opening one of the third over - to have Zazai’s opening partner Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught behind, the wicketkeeper having just produced an audacious shot when he went down on one knee - as though preparing to propose - to hoist Chris Woakes over the fine-leg boundary.

Woakes, fit after a thigh niggle, bowled half of the six powerplay overs at a cost of 21, returning to concede just three runs in the 19th over in which he also thrust out a right hand in his follow-through to dispense with Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

After Livingstone’s “worldie” out in the deep, with Afghanistan’s batsmen struggling on a pitch of good pace and carry, Moeen Ali claimed another excellent grab to give Curran his first wicket of the game.

Curran held back a cutter which Ibrahim launched high into the night, Moeen judging it superbly as he took the ball over his shoulder running away from the pitch out in the covers.

Adil Rashid also had to turn around at mid-wicket and watch the ball out of the sky and safely into his diving grasp when Najibullah Zadran hoisted Ben Stokes, the ball just sticking in the Yorkshireman’s fingers.

Afghanistan slumped to 91-5 in the 16th over when Jos Buttler then produced a stunning catch behind the stumps, seizing the ball one-handed flying to his left when Mohammad Nabi gloved a sharp one from Wood down the leg-side.

England were buzzing, collectively effervescent, and they finished the innings in clinical fashion, taking the last five wickets for three runs in 12 deliveries.

Curran took four of them to go with Woakes’s caught-and-bowled effort, the Surrey man inducing Azmatullah Omarzai to hole out to deep mid-wicket, Rashid Khan to pull to deep backward-square, Ghani to pick out deep backward-point and last man Fazalhaq Farooqi to slice a drive to Dawid Malan in the gully.

It was a wonderful effort by young Curran, well supported by Stokes and Wood especially, although Rashid was not quite at his best again, as if there are other matters, perhaps, preying on his mind.

There was, it should be noted, one dropped chance by England, although Alex Hales really saved four runs with a brilliant one-handed attempt to his right when Fareed Ahmad cut Woakes to backward point.

Hales was then dropped twice in the England reply, with Afghanistan’s fielding nowhere near as good, first at backward-point and then at long-off, although Hales managed just 19 before picking out deep backward-square.

Buttler and Malan both scored 18, caught at deep square-leg and cover respectively, while Stokes was bowled off his pad and Harry Brook taken at long-on off Rashid Khan, who was outstanding with 1-17 from his four overs.

Livingstone and Moeen saw their side home as England sidestepped the proverbial banana skin with relative ease.