Cricket World Cup: Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott praises team's growth in ODI cricket

Jonathan Trott has praised the progress of his Afghanistan team in ODI cricket during the World Cup and urged them to continue with a good start in their "crucial" match against the Netherlands.

Afghanistan have been the surprise package of the tournament so far with wins against traditional heavyweights Pakistan, Sri Lanka and defending champions England.

Praised for the changes in Afghanistan's batting, where they have become more patient in their approach, head coach Trott praised the players' attitude to changes that have allowed them to progress to a longer ball game.

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He said: "I think it's a case more of just being better all-around and thinking more about your all-around game. I think Afghanistan (players) naturally grow up playing a lot more T20 cricket than any other format, so the skills for T20 are there. It's about adding to that base of skills.

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"As you see 50-over cricket is a long time and you have to be able to ride the ebbs and flows of a game," former England batter Trott added.

"The thing I'm really happy about from last game is we lost a wicket in the first over and you know Rahmat Shah was able to go in at number three and soak up that pressure but still keep scoring at a good tempo.

"So that shows the ability to soak up pressure, which at times you have to do in 50-over cricket, but also then accelerate at certain times.

"So, wanting and trying to enable batters and give them the game and help them grow the game so they can have both facets of it: pressure, soaking it up, rotation of strike, and obviously accelerating and boundary hitting," said Trott.

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With six points gained on the eve of their seventh match at the Cricket World Cup, Afghanistan sit firmly in the mix for a semi-final spot. But as well as a win against the Netherlands on Friday, Afghanistan will look to improve their inferior net run-rate (0.718) compared with Pakistan (-0.024) who are currently level on points.

Despite the number of permutations that could see Afghanistan progress to the semi-finals, Trott insists they must focus on themselves and continue to perform well for the Netherlands match on Friday.

He said: "We're not going to make the semis by just talking about it. We have to play good cricket.

"As long as we play good cricket, we'll give ourselves the best chance of being able to do that. That starts tomorrow and how well we start tomorrow is going to be crucial and how well we finish.

"It's important that when it comes to World Cup games, everything is different, different conditions. Pune is very different to Lucknow; Delhi is very different. So that's the challenge of the World Cup, different conditions, different grounds, different climates.

"So as long as we adjust ourselves well, we're ready for tomorrow."

Alikhil back for Netherlands clash

Trott provided an injury boost as Afghanistan wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil, who picked up an injury to his finger during Monday's win against Sri Lanka in Pune, is "available".

Alikhil sustained the knock in the fifth ball of the second over when he was hit on the finger attempting to collect a ball, but left the ground in pain on Monday.

What's next?

Live ICC Cricket World Cup

Afghanistan take on the Netherlands as they bid to boost their chances of making the Cricket World Cup semi-finals.

Watch live on Friday on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 8am, first ball 8.30am.

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