England captain Harry Brook walked the talk as he stood tall amid a flurry of early wickets to script his side’s two-wicket win over Pakistan in their Super Eight game at Kandy on Tuesday night.
Brook proved he was a one-man army and more than sufficient to handle Pakistan’s attack as changed gears according to the situation. He began aggressively and then slowed down in the middle before storming to his century with a series of boundaries. In the process, the England captain became the first captain to score a T20 World Cup century. That feat has taken England to their fifth consecutive semifinal, a feat no other team has achieved before.
Pakistan’s score was just about par, if not a little under, but when they had England three down in the powerplay, and then four down one over later, Pakistan felt they were in a strong position. But Brook’s belligerence blew them away, giving them enough cushion to lose two more wickets even after he departed and still get the win comfortably enough with five balls to spare.
Nice to get through to the semis, says Harry
“Just nice to get through to the semis. We have one more game against New Zealand and we’ll focus on that, but then. Baz came to me in the morning and said we may change it up and put you up at No. 3. We have spoken about being able to adapt and the bravery to do that was great. Nice to get out there and face as many balls as possible. Pakistan are always good. Some world class players there. Just nice to get over the line. There’s always areas we want to improve on and you can never quite get perfection but we’re always striving for it. I was just happy to get the job done, to be honest. We were in a tricky situation to start, and a couple of partnerships after that. Nice to get over the line,” said Brooks, who was named Player of the Match.
Shaheen Afridi gave Pakistan the perfect start as he dismissed the in-form Phil Salt off the first ball of the innings. Dropped from the playing XI in the previous match, Afridi marked his return with a delivery that angled across the right-handed Salt, who nicked it to wicket-keeper Usman Khan. Afridi sent back Jos Buttler back in similar fashion, and then had Jacob Bethell miscuing a shot square of the wicket that was caught superbly by Farhan.
England ended powerplay on 53 for 3. Like Afridi, mystery spinner Usman Tariq struck on the first ball, as he had Tom Banton caught behind.
Brook lent the innings some solidity with his career-best score in T20Is. After the early fall of wickets, he steadied the innings, along with Sam Curran (16), with a 45-run partnership. He then stitched a 52-run partnership with Will Jacks, who made 28, to see his side home. Brook scored 100 off 51 deliveries, with the help of ten fours and four sixes.
Dawson unsettles Pakistan batters
Earlier, England made a strong start, reducing their rivals to 27 for 2 inside the first four overs. While Saim Ayub was undone by Jofra Archer’s pace and bounce, captain Salman Agha fell to left-arm spinner Liam Dawson. Farhan steadied the innings with a 46-run partnership with Babar Azam (25), and a 49-run stand with Fakhar Zaman (25).
The first six of the Pakistan innings came in the 14th over, as Farhan swept Will Jacks for a big hit. Farhan brought up his half-century in 37 balls and once again held the innings together. He finished with 63 off 45 balls, with the help of seven fours and two sixes.
Pakistan’s attempts to accelerate towards the end were thwarted as they lost a clutch of wickets. Starting with Farhan, they slipped from 122/4 to 149/8. They ended up with 164 for nine.
The English pacers were on target on Tuesday, as Archer and Overton finished with two wickets apiece. It was Dawson who unsettled Pakistan, claiming 3/24 in his four overs.
Brief scores: Pakistan 164 for nine in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 63, Babar Azam 25, Fakhar Zaman 25, Shadab Khan 23; Liam Dawson 3/24, Jamie Overton 2/26, Jofra Archer 2/32) lost to England 166 for eight in 19.1 overs (Harry Brook 100, Will Jacks 28; Shaheen Shah Afridi 4/30, Mohammad Nawaz 2/26, Usman Tariq 2/31).
