Harry Kane scored twice in the first half as England eventually saw off Croatia 4-2 to launch their World Cup assault in Texas.

Jude Bellingham, immediately after half-time, and substitute Marcus Rashford with five minutes to go ensured a winning start for Thomas Tuchel’s side after Croatia had fought back to level at 2-2 in Wednesday’s game.

The prolific Kane twice put England ahead in the first half – one a retaken penalty – only for Martin Baturina and Petar Musa to hit back for 2018 runners-up Croatia.

With both sides shaky at the back, the second half threatened another goal glut, Bellingham needing just two minutes to put England ahead again in front of a crowd of 70,000.

England had numerous chances to extend their lead immediately after, but did not take them until Rashford popped up.

The meeting was a repeat of the 2018 semifinal, which Croatia won 2-1 after extra time, although England have since had the edge against one of the older squads at the tournament in North America.

Thomas Tuchel’s side, bidding to deliver England a first major trophy since 1966, made a nervy start in front of a packed house at the impressive air-conditioned home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Then the drama came. Croatia’s talismanic captain Luka Modric dangled out a leg and caught Noni Madueke in the box.

Kane saw his unconvincing penalty saved by Dominik Livakovic, only for French referee Clement Turpin to order a retake after video replays deemed the stopper had come off his line.

Turpin once sent off Tuchel in the Champions League and the referee taking charge of the game had been highlighted by English media this week.

Bayern Munich predator Kane held his nerve a second time around, again going to Livakovic’s left but this time in more ruthless fashion to give England the lead after 12 minutes.

Now it was all England, and Real Madrid midfielder Bellingham – preferred to Morgan Rogers in the number 10 role – surged upfield, forcing Livakovic to smother.

Loud boos rang out for the drinks break, given the match was under a roof and not the unforgiving Texas sun.

On the half hour, England should have gone 2-0 up, Bellingham narrowly failing to make contact with Madueke’s delicious low cross.

On 36 minutes, Croatia drew level.

England squandered the ball in midfield, then Petar Sucic left John Stones on the floor with some neat footwork to set up Baturina.

The 23-year-old met the ball for the first time and whipped it past Jordan Pickford, who got a hand to the ball.

Zlatko Dalic’s side were level for just six minutes as a Declan Rice corner found Kane unmarked and the captain nodded home.

It took skipper Kane to 10 World Cup goals, the most of any England player along with Gary Lineker.

Tuchel, who has made it clear that winning the World Cup is his aim, barely smiled.

Putting the seal on a frenetic first half, Musa took advantage of more poor England defending in the fifth minute of injury time to stroke the ball in from close range for 2-2.

The second half started just as the first ended – with a goal – as Bellingham galloped down the right unchallenged and rolled the ball into the corner.

Kane and Nico O’Reilly, twice each, and Bellingham had good chances for a 4-2 lead as England pummelled the Croatia goal.

With 15 minutes left and England retreating, Croatia had several opportunities before Rashford made the three points safe.

[Aljazeera]

Shubman Gill recorded his ninth ODI century, Ishan Kishan scored his second, while Arshdeep Singh and Gurnoor Brar picked up three wickets each as India claimed a 170-run win against Afghanistan to win the second ODI and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

The win was set up by a rousing Gill-Kishan stand, who added 224 runs off 141 balls for the third wicket as India piled up 402 in 49.5 overs. Despite the onslaught, Afghanistan did make a comeback, picking up 7 for 62 in the last ten overs to restrict India, when at one stage, 450 and above was on the cards.

Afghanistan got nowhere near the towering target. Rahmat Shah scored a laborious 79, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 41, but that was about it. The visitors were bowled out for 232, with Darwish Rasooli, on debut, retiring hurt midway through his innings and not coming back. Arshdeep picked up 3 for 45, while Gurnoor returned 3 for 60. Debutant Prince Yadav also picked up two wickets.

Afghanistan bowled in sweltering conditions and had early success with Mohammad Saleem grabbing his maiden ODI wicket in the form of Yashasvi Jaiswal who cut to backward point in the second over. Gill, though, was at his fluent best. He started his innings with a classy cover-drive off AM Ghazanfar before Rohit Sharma treated the Lucknow faithful to back-to-back front-foot pulls as India raced past fifty in the seventh over.

Nangevalia Kharotre’s spell began with a near-waist-high full toss down leg that was spanked over deep fine leg by Gill. Some Rashid Khan mystery got Afghanistan back as he foxed Rohit with a skiddy googly for 48 but it only summoned the start of a storm.

Gill reached his fifty off 38 balls with a six off Kharote over wide long-on. Kishan was initially sedate. He reached his half-century off 52 balls, his first since September 2023. Then he went ballistic. He slapped Ghazanfar down the ground, went 4, 6, 0 and 4 against Hashmatullah Shahidi’s offspin before smashing Rashid for two sixes and a four.

Gill, watching the carnage unfold, reached his century off just 77 balls by working Bilal Sami through square leg. In the same over, Kishan went 4, 4, 4 to reach his second ODI ton and his first since the 210  he hit against Bangladesh in December 2022. Kishan had taken 52 balls for his first fifty and just 19 for his second. Gill also upped his strike-rate by twice going through extra cover against Saleem.

India were 193 for 2 after 28 overs; in the next eight, they ransacked 114 runs with the run rate zooming past the 8.5 mark. Kishan hit two one-handed sixes against Kharote but fell doing it a third time, mistiming to deep midwicket. The Lucknow heat began taking its toll on the players. Rashid limped off the field, while Gill also summoned the physio multiple times.

While Gill still managed to find a few boundaries and, in the process, reach 150 off 109 balls, Shreyas Iyer struggled to keep up. Kharote then struck twice in two balls, first sending back Gill, whose reverse sweep only went as far as deep point while KL Rahul slogged him to long-on for a golden duck.

Kharote picked up his fourth wicket when Shreyas mistimed him to long-on. The boundaries dried up in the death and India only managed to get past 400 in the final over. The innings ended with Prince run out for 5 as Kharote picked up 4 for 76, while Rashid returned three wickets.

Gill didn’t take the field in the second innings, with Shreyas leading. Gurbaz took on Prince twice in the second over and then smashed Arshdeep for a six and four. Prince should have had his maiden ODI wicket in the form of Gurbaz, when a sharp bouncer was top-edged to mid-on but he overstepped.

Prince’s loss was Gurnoor’s gain when the quick saw the back of Gurbaz with a back-of-length ball at 147.7kph, which was edged to Rahul. Afghanistan reached 62 for 1 after ten overs, with the chase already fizzling out. The intent was missing. The dot balls piled up.

Arshdeep bounced out Ibrahim Zadran with Prince taking a stunning catch running in from deep fine leg. Sediqullah Atal and Rahmat joined hands for a 57-run stand for the third wicket, which took 60 balls. Atal drove Arshdeep on the up through the covers twice, and waltzed down the track against Kuldeep Yadav but the required rate had already touched ten an over.

Washington Sundar trapped Atal lbw, and Afghanistan sent out a limping Rasooli despite him being stretchered off the ground earlier. Clearly in pain, he struck a four, but soon limped off the field.

Shahidi sliced a four first ball and had his off bail disturbed second ball by Gurnoor. Rahmat rode his luck and reached his fifty off 52 balls, but Afghanistan’s innings never moved into a higher gear. Prince flattened Kharote’s off stump for his maiden ODI wicket while Arshdeep removed Rashid and Ghazanfar.

The Afghanistan innings meandered along for a few more overs with Rahmat getting the odd boundary in. It was the Arshdeep-Gurnor combination that fittingly ended the innings, with Rahmat the last man out caught at deep fine leg.

The difference between the two teams was clear. India faced 110 dots and hit 45 fours and 12 sixes; Afghanistan faced 148 dots and managed just 29 fours and two sixes.

SCORES:
India 402 in 49.5 overs (Rohit Sharma 48, Shubman Gill 154, Ishan Kishan 125; Nangeyalia  Kharote 4-76, Rashid Khan 3-48) beat Afghanistan 232 in 44.3 overs (Rahmat Shah  79, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 41,  Sediqullah Atal 42;  Arshdeep Singh 3-45, Prince Yadev 2-56, Gurnoor Brar 3-60) by 170 runs

[Cricinfo]

Austria marked their ⁠return to ⁠the World Cup after a 28-year absence with a tense 3-1 win ⁠over debutants  Jordan in their Group J opener on Tuesday, relying ⁠on a second-half own goal and a last-gasp penalty from Marko Arnautovic to claim the three points.

Austria took the lead on 20 minutes through ‌a Romano Schmid thunderbolt, but were pegged back five minutes after the break when striker Ali Olwan found space in the area and fired a sizzling shot inside the far ⁠post.

Austria’s veteran target man ⁠Arnautovic slammed a low shot into the net from a goalmouth scramble in the 69th minute, but it was ruled out for handball by teammate ⁠Stefan Posch following a ⁠VAR review.

Seven minutes later, though, Austria were celebrating again as Yazan Al-Arab deflected a Marcel Sabitzer ‌corner into his own net, before Arnautovic slotted home a penalty deep into ‌stoppage ‌time after Saleem Obeid was penalised for handball.

Victory lifted Austria to second place in Group J, behind reigning World Cup winners Argentina, who took the top spot after Lionel Messi’s magical hat-trick steered them to a 3-0 win over Algeria earlier on Tuesday. Jordan sit third in the group, while Algeria are bottom.