England have made their case stronger for their Super Eight stage qualification after a 41-run win over Namibia in a 10-over T20 World Cup 2024 fixture at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium
The start-stop, cat-and-mouse, nerves and nail-biting game ended as the sun gods shined bright on Antigua as well as England. Considering the amount of rain that hit the North Sound, how England pulled that rabbit out of the T20 World Cup hat will always stay a secret. (Scorecard| As It Happened)
England have made their case stronger for their Super Eight stage qualification after a 41-run win against Namibia in a ten over fixture at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Defending 127 to win, the England pacers Reece Topley and Jofra Archer were top notch with the new ball seaming the ball around at good pace making it hard for the Namibia batters to put bat on ball, giving away just 18 runs in the three-over powerplay.
Playing his first game in the tournament, Sam Curran backed it up well, while Chris Jordan went about his business. Potentially playing his last knock for Namibia, and his last outing in international cricket, David Wiese scored a quick-fire 12-ball 27, taking Adil Rashid all over Antigua.
However, it was too little, too late for Namibia as Archer wrapped up things in the last over.
Earlier on, Scotland skipper Gerhard Erasmus won the toss and put England to bat first. On a surface that had been under the covers for a good while, the Namibia bowlers took full advantage of the ball swinging around, dismissing Jos Buttler (0) and Philip Salt (11) within the powerplay.
The Yorkshire boys turned into England men as Harry Brook and Jonny Bairstow stitched a recovery and set the platform for a strong England finish before the rain made yet another quick visit.
However, the clouds disappeared and sunshine took over, Moeen Ali (16) and Brook (47), with Liam Livingstone’s last over finishing touches helped England put up a very good total.
Jos Buttler's men will be looking for a bit of favour from their arch-rivals Australia who will take on Scotland at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium at St Lucia on 16th June.