It was a rollercoaster trip for England all the way to the top of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, as they went from the low of underperforming and losing to Ireland to the high of winning on the biggest platform of all.
The men’s team from England have won the Twenty20 World Cup for the second time in their nation’s history.
We take a look at how Jos Buttler’s team navigated the previous four weeks of T20 World Cup action to emerge victorious in Melbourne and claim the championship.
England defeated Afghanistan by five wickets
A victory in the opening match was a relief, and left-arm bowler Sam Curran’s outstanding returns of 5/10 were a portent of better things to come in the rest of the series.
In their pursuit of 113 runs to win, they did their fair share of puffing and panting, but Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone finished the job for them down the order.
Ireland defeated the opposition by five runs
The rainy match at the MCG was where England’s campaign hit rock bottom. Andrew Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker were able to score runs in the early half of Ireland’s innings by taking advantage of some poor bowling, but they would have still been confident in their chances had they reached the halfway point.
However, because rain was expected, England played things cautiously during the chase and never managed to get ahead of the required pace.
Some tremendous hits from Moeen Ali almost rescued the situation, but the rain arrived before the left-hander had faced many deliveries. This left England slightly behind on DLS and caused them to suffer a famous loss to their neighbors.
vs Australia | The game was abandoned
Due to the lack of competition, England is in a precarious position in Group 1.
After suffering a defeat at the hands of Ireland, Buttler and the rest of his team could not risk suffering another setback and sharing the points with Australia.
The game had the potential to be a win-or-bust fixture for both teams, and the fact that they were able to split the points at least meant that they both still had a chance to win the competition. Neither team was satisfied with the outcome of the game, which ended in a tie.
England defeated New Zealand by 20 runs
As a result of the lost points, England found themselves in a position where they needed to win each of their next four matches in order to claim the title of World Cup champion.
An opening stand of 81 runs got England off to a flier, but it was always going to be difficult to chase down a total of 179/6, given New Zealand was in good form and leading the group coming into the match.
When Glenn Phillips got going in the middle overs, there was some anxiety, but some tight bowling at a vital juncture left New Zealand with too much work to do.
England defeated Sri Lanka by four wickets
Mark Wood’s lightning-fast pace was a major factor in England’s success in limiting Sri Lanka to 141/8 runs, and Wood took three crucial wickets in the process.
Ben Stokes was forced to step in with a rescue job, scoring 42 runs not out from 36 balls to see England home with four wickets to spare. Another strong opening stand got the chase off to a decent start, but a collapse did see things get tighter than expected.
England defeated India by 10 wickets
In the semi-final match against India, England put on a demolition job and turned in their greatest performance of the tournament by a significant margin.
The bowlers did a good job of keeping India at a score that was challenging but not insurmountable (168/6).
Jos Buttler and Alex Hales, England’s opening combination, were the unsung heroes of the game since they were able to chase down the target without losing a wicket and with four overs to spare.
England defeated Pakistan by five wickets
At the MCG, a legendary England victory featured a legendary Ben Stokes performance. With the help of some useful cameos from Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, and Moeen Ali, his side was able to win thanks to his unbeaten 52* from 49 balls.
Sam Curran and Adil Rashid’s outstanding bowling kept Pakistan in check during the first innings, and even Shaheen Afridi’s first-over six couldn’t derail England’s momentum during the chase.
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