How to watch England vs Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup cricket on a live stream – free options available

The first World Cup T20 cricket game for ENG could be a fiery or a rainy affair against AFG

Image of Ben Stokes batting against Australia to illustrate story about the T20 cricket World Cup 2022
(Image credit: Getty)
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Afghanistan vs England is now over with England winning reasonably comfortably, but probably not as comfortably as they’d have liked. Still, a win’s a win and it’s more than Australia managed today. 

England had injury worries around Chris Woakes (quadricep) and Mark Wood (not actually injured at this point, but it's usually only a matter of time), but both are playing today. Mulleted man mountain Reece Topley has already been ruled out because he, er, fell over the boundary rope. Okay.

With two such forceful sides facing off, there's a chance things could be fiery out there. However, alas, there is also a pretty strong chance things could be rainy – the forecast is a little grim, but then again the forecast has been adverse throughout this World Cup so far, but very little actual match time has been lost to showers. Fingers crossed, then.

England won the toss and opted to bowl first. Australia just got absolutely walloped by New Zealand after making the same call! The England batting lineup looks very strong indeed. There are only four specialist bowlers picked. However, it should be pretty easy to get 4 quality overs – at least – out of England’s all-rounder contingent of Stokes, Livingstone and Moeen. Here’s the full lineup. 

1 Jos Buttler, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood

In fact, Stokes opened the bowling. Afghanistan batted at ever such a leisurely pace, ekeing out 11, on a perfectly good pitch. Mark Wood looked the exact opposite of leisurely, snorting the ball through at nostril height and taking a wicket with his first ball of the World Cup, then another in his final over, to finish with 2/23. Sam Curran was less dramatic but even more effective, picking up a sensational 5/10 – the first ever five-wicket haul by an Englishman. They had great support from Stokes (2/19 in his four), Woakes (1/24), and Rashid (0/32).  

Chasing such a low target, you might expect England to come out and blatt it all over Perth, but they’ve opted for steady accumulation. It‘s getting increasingly difficult to tell if the pitch is more troublesome than it looks, or if both these sides are bowling exceptionally well and/or batting exceptionally poorly. England were 95/4 after 15 overs. Afghanistan have dropped a couple of pretty good chances that they may end kicking themselves over. 

So, here's how to watch England vs Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup in the UK, Australia, NZ, South Asia, the USA and elsewhere. There are various live stream options and if you're out of the country and can't access your preferred domestic broadcaster, you can use a VPN to bypass geo-restrictions. Scroll down to the bottom of this guide for more info on this. We also have a regularly updated guide to how to watch the cricket T20 World Cup including free options, on a live stream. It's got the same info as this, but not as specific to ENG vs AFG.

When is England vs Afghanistan in the T20 cricket World Cup?

We're happy to help. Australia vs New Zealand starts on Saturday October 22 at 6pm AEST, 8am BST, midday PKT, 12:30pm IST, 7pm NZST, 3am ET and midnight PT.  

Afghanistan vs England starts on Saturday October 22 at 10pm AEST, midday BST, 4pm PKT, 4:30pm IST, 11pm NZST, 7am ET and 4am PT.

All this is subject to rain, of which there may be rather a lot. Tragically, much of Australia currently resembles Atlantis and while we've been lucky with the weather so far in the T20 cricket, our luck can't last forever.

Can you stream the T20 World Cup for FREE?

Yes you can! If you live in Pakistan, or indeed, outside of Pakistan and don't mind the commentary being in Urdu, a number of games are free to watch on state broadcaster PTV Sports. Hooray for public service broadcasting! 

Australia's games, plus the semis and final, are free on Channel 9 in Australia, including via its 9Now streaming service. Here, the commentary will be more or less in English. Alternatively, you can watch every World Cup game for free for 14 days, with a free trial of Kayo Sports. Unfortunately, the World Cup goes on for longer than 14 days, but you can't have everything for free in life.

How to watch England vs Afghanistan T20 cricket in the UK

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Sky Sports will have all the World Cup T20i action for UK viewers, via satellite, Sky Go, Sky Glass or the floating voter's favourite: Sky Now. There, a Sports pass will set you back just £25 per month for 6 months, with free Boost for the first month, so you can watch in full HD, as opposed to slightly crappy semi-HD. That will then cost an extra £5 per month if you want to continue with it, alas.

There is one other option which is to buy a 1-day pass to Sky Sports for £11.99 – but that does not strike us as great VFM, compared to the monthly deal above.

How to watch England vs Afghanistan T20 cricket in India – or in Hindi, from abroad

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In India, who start against arch rivals Pakistan on October 23, the T20 World Cup will be on Star Sports. That means it's also watchable via Disney+ Hotstar streaming, including the Hotstar mobile app. There's no free offer on this one, alas, but prices start at just Rs 499. India fans wanting to watch from overseas will need a VPN – scroll on for more on that.

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How to watch England vs Afghanistan T20 cricket in Pakistan – for free!

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Head straight to PTV Sports TV or its online sibling PTV Sports Live. Part of Pakistan's state broadcasting network, PTV Sports has the rights to the World Cup, and as a state-run entity, it's showing it for free. I wouldn't say it's the most sophisticated streaming website I've ever come across, but it works, and it's free, so you can't really grumble.

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How to watch England vs Afghanistan T20 cricket in Australia – including free trial options

Kayo SportsFREE 14-day trial

Apparently, every single match of the T20 World Cup is on Fox Cricket and the Foxtel streaming service. To watch for free, however, you could to sign up for the excellent Kayo Sports streaming service. This comes with a FREE 14-day trial, after which it's from $27.50 per month, which is pretty reasonable.

All Australia's World Cup matches, plus the semis, the final and 'selected other matches' will also be free on Channel 9HD, 9GemHD and 9Now streaming. 

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How to watch England vs Afghanistan T20 cricket in New Zealand

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Kiwis can watch the World Cup on Sky Sport, via Sky Go, Sky Now or cable. A Sky Sport Now sub is currently $19.99 per week or $39.99 per month. The monthly package comes with a 7-day free trial.

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How to watch England vs Afghanistan T20 cricket in the USA

a 50% discount

Rather amazingly, there is a streaming service in the USA and Canada that's specifically for cricket! It's called Willow TV and is available via various cable providers. If you prefer to stream, you can use cable cutters' fave, Sling TV and add Willow TV for $5 per month. If you're new to Sling or, indeed, have never even heard of it, you can get SlingTV with a 50% discount.

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ESPN Plus.

In the USA, the World Cup cricket is also streaming on ESPN. This channel usually offers the choice of commentary in Hindi or English among its streaming options, too. You can watch live with a suitable cable subscription or on streaming service ESPN Plus. Monthly plans cost $6.99 a month, while the cost-saving annual subscription is $69.99 per year.

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How to watch England vs Afghanistan T20 cricket if you're abroad

If you're out of the country on holiday or business, you can still get access to a live stream - simply use the best VPN around to get past those geo-restrictions. A streaming VPN is a very handy thing, as it means you can hop on a server within the US, UK or anywhere else  and it will switch your IP address to make it appear as if you're browsing right from the comfort of your own home.

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ExpressVPN is our top choice when it comes to pretending you are in a different country, and all the other useful stuff you can do with VPNs. It's got a robust set of security features and there's the option of buying it on a 3-month free trial, with a 30-day money-back guarantee,when you sign up for a year. This works out at just £6.19 per month, and you can use ExpressVPN across your laptop, phone, PlayStation, Xbox and more. 

Try ExpressVPN 100% risk-free for 30 days

  • VPN - standing for virtual private network - offers security and anonymity as you browse online, using set protocols to encrypt your data and make it unreadable to outsiders.
  • As a part of that, you can also switch your IP address, which identifies your location.
  • Most VPNs offer a list of locations where its servers are based to join. Connecting to them switches your IP to appear as if you're browsing from that country/city. In turn, you can then access content locked to that country.
  • When it comes to finding a VPN, you should make sure you find the best one that's suitable for your chosen device, with VPN providers offering compatibility for a ton of devices, including VPN for Mac, and even a range of fairly nifty free VPNs.
  • Once you've made the decision for the most suitable VPN for your device and your means for using a VPN, sign-up and install it. 
  • To live stream Wimbledon 2022, all you need to do is select a UK server from its list of available servers and connect. You'll then be able to hop over those geo-restrictions, with the likes of BBC iPlayer opening its online gates to you.
  • We also want to ensure your money is well spent, so we would recommend going for a VPN that offers a risk free trial. ExpressVPN is one of many providers that has a 30-day money back guarantee.
Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

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