T20 World Cup: Sam Curran takes five wickets as England beat Afghanistan in opener

England made a winning start to the T20 World Cup, defeating Afghanistan by five runs.

England's first five-wicket haul in men's T20s was made possible by a complete bowling performance by Sam Curran.

At the end of the Afghanistan's 19.4 overs, Mark Wood and Ben Stokes took two and two, respectively, but it was the four-year-old's performance that really made a difference.

The highlights of England's fielding were a high catch from Adil Rashid and a one-handed grab by Buttler.

The target was never likely to be defendable after England's batting order flopped in the chase.

England won with 11 balls remaining as Liam Livingstone finished with 29 not out.

New Zealand shocked Australia in the same group.

They will play Ireland on Wednesday and Australia on the same day at the Cricket Ground.

• Relive the best clips from England's win over Afghanistan

England win game in the field

After a week of shocks in the first group stage, England will be happy to avoid a similar fate against a dangerous Afghanistan side.

Their performance in the field was as good as any in recent memory, despite the lack of a ruthless edge in the batting.

Wood started a spell of ferocious pace bowling, the fastest recorded at a T20 World Cup, by having Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught behind with his first ball.

The clinic of catching started after that.

Liam Livingstone sprinted from deep cover before diving to the ground to catch Rahmanullah Gurbaz. After Ibrahim Zadran was dismissed for a run-a-ball 32, Moeen Ali ran back to take one dropping over his shoulder.

The pick was made by the man. He ran back to catch a skier from Zadran out of the sky before Nabi gloved one to Buttler off Wood.

"We caught everything except one thing from Hales," he said.

There was some great ground fielding as well. We didn't have to ask for much more in the first half.

Curran continues to deliver

When he began the 18th over, Afghanistan still had a chance of increasing their total from 106-5, as he had only one strike for eight runs.

He had bettered England's previous best figures by a factor of four.

He is England's go to death bowler. Slower-ball bouncers were used to close out the game.

At the start of the game, I didn't think I'd be walking off like that, but the boys did a great job.

Impressive was the way he started, bowling the first over and getting a couple of strikes.

If the all-rounder performs with the ball it will allow England to play all of their big hitters.

England miss chance to boost net run-rate

England would have wanted to win by a lot.

If they end up level on points with any other team at the end of the group stage, it will be important that they boost their net run-rate.

They lost both Buttler and Hales for 18 and 17 each. By that time, Hales had been dropped twice.

England were unable to hit their stride because of the spinners. Mohammed Nabi took the two for two and then caught Dawid Malan for 18 from 30 balls.

The game could have been different if Afghanistan had taken those chances.

Livingstone hit three fours in his return from injury which could prove crucial as England head to Australia to continue their quest for a second men's T20 World Cup title.

Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi said that it wasn't the best start for them. Everyone knows that England are one of the best T20 teams in the world, and we didn't get a good enough total on the board.

There weren't enough runs on the pitch. I think our boys did a good job.