The previous few months haven’t been sort to Harry Brook. Many would say that’s his personal doing. The ghosts of the night time out in Wellington initially of November had not left him since, prompting a number of apologies – first for going out on the eve of main his staff in an ODI and getting punched by a nightclub bouncer, after which for mendacity to guard his teammates.
It didn’t assist that he hadn’t achieved a lot with the bat since, both within the Ashes – the place the way of a few of his dismissals had England supporters pulling their hair – or within the T20 World Cup until now.
However the England skipper selected Tuesday to make a press release as a batsman and a pacesetter as his 51-ball 100 virtually single-handedly took England to the semifinals with a two-wicket win over Pakistan in Pallekele with 5 balls to spare.
AS IT HAPPENED | ENGLAND VS PAKISTAN T20 WORLD CUP 2026 SUPER 8 HIGHLIGHTS
After the washout in opposition to New Zealand, Pakistan now have to beat Sri Lanka and hope for different outcomes to go their strategy to have an opportunity of progress.
England had been scratchy all through the match and didn’t play the proper recreation on Tuesday both. Their fielding was nicely beneath par, and their chase of 165 had received off to a poor begin as Shaheen Shah Afridi confirmed among the prowess he has been identified for, taking three powerplay wickets to scale back the two-time champions to 35/3 inside 5 overs.
England spinner Liam Dawson picked up three wickets in opposition to Pakistan. (PHOTO: AP)
Brook walked out to bat after Phil Salt was dismissed off the primary ball of the innings – the primary time he had batted at No.3 in his T20I profession – and the captain counter-attacked with aplomb at the same time as wickets continued to fall on the different finish, scoring 100 of the 155 runs scored whereas he was within the center. His knock might be put in correct context as not one of the different batsmen within the prime 5 reached double figures. In reality, aside from Brook, who received out with 10 runs left to get and noticed two extra wickets fall to engineer a nervy end, solely Will Jacks (28) and Sam Curran (16) did.
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Assault is the perfect defence
The common departure of his teammates by no means fazed Brook as he started working with a boundary and a six off left-arm seamer Salman Mirza within the second over. Tempo or spin, offside or onside, all had been handled with equal disdain. He, by and huge, focused the straight boundaries – even off the again foot – and infrequently made room to hit over the offside. The sweep was additionally put to good impact, and the variety of twos that England ran on the big subject had Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha pissed off.
Nevertheless it was not all indiscriminate hitting. Recognising that thriller spinner Usman Tariq was a significant risk, the England captain performed him comparatively cautiously. Afridi (4/30) and Tariq (2/31) had been Pakistan’s primary weapons on the day, however the different spinners – Saim Ayub, Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan – hardly had any significant influence when it actually mattered.
Regardless of dropping wickets, the required run charge was all the time beneath management, and as soon as Brook had a steady ally in Jacks, their 52-run stand off 31 balls kind of settled the matter.
Within the first 20 overs, there have been ground-fielding errors and the uncommon dropped catch, however Pakistan had been all the time behind the par rating on the floor. Sahibzada Farhan, their finest batsman within the match, was the principle contributor right here additionally, however was dismissed for a 45-ball 63 with greater than 4 overs left.
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As for Babar Azam, he seemed to imply enterprise when he got here in at 27/2 within the fourth over, however a 24-ball 25 didn’t serve Pakistan’s objective.
England have a match in opposition to the Kiwis earlier than the semifinals and would hope Jos Buttler will get into some form of rhythm after wanting woefully wanting type once more.
Transient scores: Pakistan 164/9 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 63; Liam Dawson 3/24) misplaced to England 166/8 in 19.1 overs (Harry Brook 100; Shaheen Shah Afridi 4/30) by two wickets