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AAP
AAP
Sport
Justin Chadwick

England to bowl first against Afghanistan

England have warmed up and will bowl first in their T20 World Cup opener against Afghanistan. (Richard Wainwright/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

England have won the toss and elected to bowl in their T20 World Cup clash with Afghanistan at Perth's Optus Stadium.

The two teams have faced off just twice in T20 internationals, with England coming up trumps both times.

England suffered a huge blow earlier this week when pace bowler Reece Topley was ruled out of the tournament after injuring his ankle while stepping on a boundary advertisement cushion during a catching drill.

It came after fellow England star Jonny Bairstow was ruled out last month after breaking his leg in a freak golfing accident.

Afghanistan are coached by former England Test opener Jonathan Trott.

England were beaten by New Zealand in the semi-finals of last year's T20 World Cup, but captain Jos Buttler is confident his team can go all the way this time around.

"I have full faith in the team," Buttler said.

"We have a lot of talent in the group. We have a lot of match winners in our side, and we'll go out there and express ourselves."

ENGLAND: Jos Buttler (capt), Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.

AFGHANISTAN: Mohammad Nabi (capt), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Usman Ghani, Najibullah Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fareed Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

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