Curran's five helps England scrap past Afghans

Sam Curran has snared 5-10 to help propel England to a five-wicket victory over Afghanistan in the ICC T20 World Cup clash at Perth's Optus Stadium.

Curran's heroics on Saturday night sparked a collapse of 5-3 off 12 balls as Afghanistan went from 5-109 to 112 all out.

In reply, Liam Livingstone (29no off 21 balls) helped guide England to the victory target with 11 balls to spare in a run chase that never reached any great heights.

Alex Hales (19), Jos Buttler (18) and Dawid Malan (18 off 30 balls) all made starts, but none of them looked comfortable in what was an unconvincing batting effort from England.

Earlier, Ibrahim Zadran (32 off 32 balls) and Usman Ghani (30 off 20 balls) anchored Afghanistan's innings, but Curran's rampant run at the death ensured England wouldn't be chasing more than a run a ball.

It was the first time an England player has snared five wickets in a T20 international.

"It was a fantastic win for us," Curran said. "Great way to start. We knew Afghanistan were going to be that type of side where we would have to scrap for those runs. 

"Every game is about getting a win in the World Cup. We bowled really well … and most importantly we got the win."

The 24-year-old's heroics came after England's fielders pulled off a series of stunning catches earlier in the innings.

Livingstone got the small crowd going with a fantastic diving catch running in from deep cover to remove opener Hazratullah Zazai (seven off 17 balls). 

Ibrahmi Zadran was lucky to survive on 16 when England fluffed a run-out chance, and he added a further 16 runs before Moeen Ali kept his composure to catch a tricky skied ball.

Adil Rashid went one better with his fingertip effort running with the flight to dismiss Najibullah Zadran (13).

But nothing compared to the effort of wicketkeeper Buttler, who dived full length to take a superb one-handed catch down the leg side to dismiss Mohammad Nabi.

Chris Woakes took a reflex one-handed catch off his own bowling for good measure, but it was the Curran show late as the left-arm pace star ended any hopes of Afghanistan adding some late lusty blows.

Allrounder Ben Stokes (2-19 off four overs) was also important, while Curran was full of praise for the team's fielding efforts.

"When Livingstone took that catch, it set up the standard of 'we are here to scrap for every run in the field'," he said.

Former England Test opener Jonathan Trott, who coaches Afghanistan, said his side didn't get enough runs on the board.

"Credit to the way the English bowlers bowled in Australian conditions, and all 10 dismissals were catches," Trott said.

England will be back in action on Wednesday when they take on Ireland at the MCG.