Ton up Brooks secure England a semi final slot

By M. Shamil Amit

Harry Brook's classy century steered the England chase

An enterprising captains knock of 100 in 51 balls inclusive of ten boundaries and four sixes by skipper Harry Brook who came to his sides’ rescue when it mattered most paved the way for England to pull off a thrilling two wicket win with five balls to spare over Pakistan in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Super Eight encounter played at the Pallekele Stadium yesterday.

The win assured England of a semi final berth, whatever the outcome of their third match against New Zealand would turn out and this will be England’s fifth successive appearance of the T20 World Cup.

England in pursuit of 165 runs for victory thanks to the one man show by skipper Brook came back from a nowhere position as they lost their top four wickets with the score on 58 and was supported by Sam Curran and Will Jacks with whom he put on valuable partnerships.  

England in their run chase underwent an early setback losing opener Phil Salt in the first ball dismissed by left arm pacie Shaheen Shah Afridi who came into the team replacing Faheem Ashraf.

Shah continued to torment the England batsmen as he got rid of Jos Butler who has had patch in the ongoing tournament as he lasted only three balls for his two runs.

Skipper Harry Brook and Jacob Bethell seemed to settle down but it was not to be as Afridi struck again with the wicket of Bethell who struggled for ten balls for his eight runs.

From thereon it was skipper Btook who made the scoring as England’s 50 runs came up in 36 balls. But Tom Banton at the other end looked shaky and he succumbed to the second ball of right arm spinner Usman Tariq’s first over with England struggling on 58 for 4 in the eight over.

Spinner Shadab Khan was punished for 17 runs in his third over with skipper Brook making 15 of those and he along with Sam Curran kept the England scoreboard moving. Brook reached his half ton that took him 28 balls which had five boundaries and two sixes before they were separated with the dismissal of Curran who made 16 in 15 balls and shared a valuable 45 runs stand for the fifth wicket in 28 balls.

Brook and Will Jacks frustrated the Pakistan bowlers while England was slowly but surely making a comeback. England;s 150 runs came up in 100 runs and with Brook raced to his ton which took just 51 balls that included ten boundaries and four sixes.

The pair posted their 50 runs stand for the sixth wicket which came off just 30 balls before Brook’s innings came to end having put on 52 runs for the sixth wicket with Jacks, falling victim to Afridi who bagged his fourth wicket.

England on 155 for 6 at that stage was left with a gettable target of ten runs in 18 balls. But they underwent some anxious moments before pulling off a thrilling victory by two wickets with five balls to spare.

Pakistan skipper Salman Agha winning the toss and opting to take first lease of the wicket lost two early wickets with right arm pacie Jofra Archer getting rid of opener Saim Ayub in the first ball of the third over and left arm spinner Liam Dawson dismissing skipper Aghar in the fourth over to have Pakistam in a spot of bother with the score on 27.

Sahibzada Farhan joined by Babar Azam denied the England bowlers further success for a considerable period while posting Pakistan’s 50 runs on the board which came off 39 balls.

At the halfway stage of the innings Pakistan was making steady progress with the score on 70 for 2. With the pair having added 46 runs for the third wicket right arm pacie James Overton made the breakthrough for England with the wicket of Azam who had his stumps disturbed having made 25 in 24 balls with two boundaries.

Fakhar Zaman who walked into the crease succeeded to put up Pakistan’s 100 runs on the board made in 82 balls which followed with Farhan racing to his half ton that took him 37 balls which had six boundaries and a six.

The pair was separated with the dismissal of Farhan who became pacie Overton’s second victim having made 73 in 45 balls that included seven boundaries and two sixes and sharing a 49 runs stand for the fourth wicket with Zaman who did not last long who hit 25 in 16 balls with two boundaries and two sixes.

With Pakistan on 132 for 5 in the 17th over followed with left arm spinner Liam Dawson dealt a double blow with back to back wickets with Pakistan’s score on 146 but was denied a hat-trick by Shaheen Shah Afridi. In the 13 balls that left for Pakistan to negotiate they managed to add 18 runs for the loss of two wickets to end with a modest score of 164 for 9.

Result:
At Pallekele – England won by two wickets
Pakistan: 164 for 9 in 20 overs (S. Farhan 63, B. Azam 25, F. Zaman 25, S. Khan 23, L. Dawson 3-24, J. Overton 2-26, J. Archer 2-32, A. Rashid 1-31)
England: 166 for 8 in 19.1 overs
(H. Brook 100, W. Jacks 28, S. Afridi 4-30, M. Nawaz 2-26, U. Tariq 2-31)