It's powerplay time. With the match reduced to 45 overs per side, it's just a four over powerplay.

The television team are analysing Steven Finn's bowling action, compared to Morne Morkel's. The cameras then switch to Finn, who is sat pitch-side and offers a wry smile as he realises he is the subject of scrutiny. Moments later, he scurries to the changing rooms. A fairly uneventful over from Stuart Broad passes. Just a single from it.

Afghanistan 106-7 (35 overs)

Batsmen: Najibullah 7*, Hassan 0*

Fall of wickets: 17-1 (Mangal 4), 20-2 (Ahmadi 7), 25-3 (Zazai 6), 34-4 (Shenwari 7), 65-5 (Jamal 17), 93-6 (Nabi 16), 101-7 (Shafiqullah 30)

Bowling figures: Anderson 7-0-18-1, Broad 7-1-17-1, Jordan 6-2-9-2, Bopara 8-1-31-2, Tredwell 7-0-25-1

England won toss

Full scorecard

Najibullah responds to the loss of his batting partner by sweeping a boundary off James Tredwell. Surely the end is nigh for this Afghan innings now though?

England have missed the craft, guile and balance James Tredwell brings to their bowling attack. With the batsmen getting tied down and frustrated, the right-handed Shafiqullah heaves the ball into the leg side and a steepling catch is well held by a diving Ravi Bopara at deep square leg. Quality effort.

Stuart Broad pulls the drawstrings on his trousers, jumps up and down on the spot and tidies up his collar before coming on to bowl his seventh over of the day. The 28-year-old has 177 wickets in 118 ODIs. Will he still be around for the next World Cup, which will be held in England? His flat mood can't be helped when Shafiqullah edges through the vacant slip region and brings up the team 100.

More steady progress in Hamilton, with Martin Guptill (94 not out) and Ross Taylor (40 not out - he's also passed 5,000 ODI runs) keeping New Zealand on an even keel. Their stand is now worth 115 - the Kiwis are 148-2 from 25 overs at the halfway mark, chasing 289 to win.

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Ban v NZ scorecard

"Nice Tredders," bellows Jos Buttler as the off-spinner teases left-hander Najibullah Zadran from around the wicket. There's some fairly dodgy running between the wickets as the Afghans look to eek out every run possible. Four from the over.

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"I think Bopara is a good one-day cricketer. They had him in last summer but then he has been in and out. I think eventually when they get round to it they are going to have to start preparing for the next World Cup. There are a few players but you have to start thinking ahead. It will come around very quick and there only so many ODI matches during those four years. Players need to get all the experience they can."

Image source, AP

You know when you flip the batting order in the final game of the season and let the third-man-to-fine-leg fielder have a bowl? It's almost like that here as Ravi Bopara trundles in for his eighth over. He does have two wickets to his name though and is making the most of the conditions. Not that he'll be bowling a full set of 10 next time England play an Australia or a New Zealand on a 350-wicket.

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"Nabi was doing the right thing - looking to be positive against this bowling. But he just hit the man; he hit it straight to him."

Ravi Bopara is ripping through Afghanistan now. He bowls back of a length and Nabi can't resist... smashing the ball to the safe hands of James Tredwell at mid-on.

How many do Afghanistan need to get before we worry about England knocking them off? 150? The fact I'm even posing this question shows how badly this tournament has gone for England. Just two from Tredwell's latest set of six.

Paul in Port Talbot: Bopara a front line bowler? Making a difference? This is Afghanistan! Bops is the 21st century Graham Hick, chance after chance and never delivering when it counts, he's another who's time has come.

The Afghan batsmen are wearing red helmets, which appear to have gone pink in the Sydney rain. I'd be sending them back to the manufacturer. Nabi continues to be positive, hammering four through the covers and then pushing Bopara for another two in the off side with an attractive front-foot push.

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"If these two had to bowl, you'd like them to be bowling at 10 and 11. I'd use Anderson to bowl them out. In conditions like this, with the ball zipping around, if someone tosses it up like Tredwell he is going to go."

Unlike Sydney, the weather remains kind to New Zealand and Bangladesh over in Hamilton. New Zealand have reached 117-2 after 21 overs, chasing 289 to win - Martin Guptill, unbeaten on 77, is anchoring the innings superbly, with Ross Taylor as Best Supporting Kiwi on 30. They've added 84.

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Ban v NZ scorecard

I hear Mo Nabi is a dressing room joker, always up to mischief. He's also a decent timer of a cricket ball as he smears James Tredwell over extra cover for six. I'm trying to think of ways to describe how hollow this game feels... the best I can come up with is that it's like turning up to watch a film having been told the ending. Or perhaps going to somebody's third wedding? You're obliged to go, but it's difficult to get too excited. I'm sure you can do better.

Stephan Shemilt
BBC Sport in Sydney

"I've counted at least 12 England flags - I wonder how many of those fans came out recently expecting to see Morgan men in the quarter-finals. In other news, the England team are all flying home separately because they couldn't all be booked on the same flight."

The Afghan fans appear to outnumber the English in the SCG stands, and they get excitable when Shafiqullah whips Ravi Bopara for four into the leg side.

Image source, Getty Images