Group C: England, 202-7, bt Italy, 178 all out, by 24 runs
Minnows denied by Curran and Overton in final overs
England did enough to beat Italy and secure a spot in the Super Eights, if not – again – to establish themselves among the form teams of this World Cup. Harry Brook had previously declared of this tournament that he would “rather not start amazing and finish amazing than start amazing and finish bad”, and in that sense alone it is proceeding entirely according to plan. The next stage is unlikely to be so forgiving.
They got the result they desperately needed, but if once more the full member nation beat the associate there were plenty of awkward moments along the way. Set a target of 203 after England scored the second highest total in their T20 World Cup history, and reduced to one for two at the end of their first over, Italy simply refused to accept they were beaten.
Even when they needed 64 runs from the last four overs, with just three wickets remaining, they kept going: Grant Stewart, on his way to 45 off 23, hit two sixes off Jofra Archer’s final over and two more off Adil Rashid’s and suddenly England’s nerves were jangling again. Then Sam Curran did his death-overs thing, Jamie Overton finished the job and Italy were all out for 178, England winning by 24.
