England to face Afghanistan today

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England to face Afghanistan today

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England will start the defence of their World T20 title against Afghanistan today.

21 September,2012 04:14 am

Defending champions Englands morale is brilliant after winning both Twenty20 World Cup warm-up games against Pakistan and Australia, captain Stuart Broad said on Thursday, the eve of their opening Group A match against Afghanistan.The 2010 winners beat Pakistan by 15 runs and the Australians by nine runs.We prepared really well, won both games over here and both have been very good tests for us, Broad told reporters.I am really delighted. The morale is brilliant. Everyone is excited about getting underway. Our preparations have gone as well as we hoped.Broad was asked how the team would cope in the absence of leading batsman Kevin Pietersen.Weve got world-class match winners in the side. Yes we have got guys who have played a lot of international cricket, Broad said.Weve got eight of those who won the World Cup three years ago and weve got players who can clear the ropes without a doubt, we have seen that in the last two games.Pietersen announced his retirement from limited-overs cricket this year before making himself available again in August.The South African-born batsman has been frozen out of the England set-up since allegedly sending provocative text messages about his own team mates to players in the South Africa side last month.KP has been around for a long time has done fantastically well for us, Broad said.Its back to the ECB at the moment that he is not here and we have to put up with that and get on with that. The 15 guys in the squad are excited to be here, out for the challenge and thats what you want coming into a tournament.Pietersen is in Sri Lanka as a commentator on the tournament.England will play India on Sunday with the top two advancing to the super eights.