ANTIGUA — If the rain had fallen for another 46 minutes, England would have gone home from the T20 World Cup.
Instead, they have barely qualified for the Super Eight stage of the tournament on net run rate and will now feel they have as good a chance as anyone to win it.
Here in the Caribbean, the defending champions battled danger for much of Saturday.
First, the final Group B match against Namibia was postponed for three hours after tropical storm battered the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
At one point, the rain came down so hard that it looked like the match might be cancelled.
But after coming within 46 minutes of that nightmare situation, Jos Buttler’s side eventually won the match, shortened to 10 overs per team, by 41 runs to edge out Scotland on net run rate.
England must now await the result of the final Group B match between Australia and Scotland to secure their progression.
Scotland knew they needed only a win to progress to the last eight but Richie Berrington’s side scored an opening goal in St Lucia to complete a 180 and put themselves in command of the match.
Australia, who had already qualified, rested mainstays Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood and dropped five catches, giving Scotland their highest record in a T20 World Cup.
No wrongdoing was alleged, but doubters were not helped by the fact that manager Hazlewood had said before the match that he had been soft on Scotland in order to beat England.
In the end, Australia made a slow start to the chase and at one point needed 81 runs off 38 balls to win, but still managed to win by five wickets with two balls to spare.
Strong batting from Travis Head and Marcus Stoinis in a stand that saw them score 80 off 44 balls paid off, before Tim David sealed the victory with a soaring six off Brad Weal in the final over.
Had David not dropped the ball earlier it would have been three wins from the same number of deliveries, but Chris Sohl missed his chance and Scotland’s fate was sealed.
It was a slow and tense evening for England’s players, who were watching the match from the team hotel in Antigua, with a thrilling final over finishing close to midnight local time.
But given that the risk of a first-round exit was real, they will be relieved to still be in the tournament and travel to St Lucia on Sunday – and indeed alternative plans had been made to bring the team home from the Caribbean in the coming days.
England, meanwhile, who were asked to bat first against Namibia and were reeling after being reduced to 13 for 2, are still in the running and will play three matches over five days this week in St Lucia and Barbados against the West Indies, South Africa and co-hosts USA to determine their place in the semi-finals.
England’s Super Eight fixtures
- June 20th (Thursday): West Indies v England (1:30pm) St. Lucia
- Friday, June 21: England v South Africa (3:30pm) St. Lucia
- Sunday, June 23: USA vs England (3:30pm) Barbados
It would have been extremely tough for England to lose at this stage after their opening match against Scotland was rained out and then another match was called off due to the weather.
But those feelings may be tempered by the controversy over their heavy defeat to Australia in Barbados last weekend, losing their only pressure-hitting match of the first round.
On Saturday, England’s total of 122 for five in 10 overs was bolstered by Harry Brook’s brilliant 20-ball 47 and Jonny Bairstow’s resurgent 18-ball 31.
Those runs were needed after Butler walked early and Phil Salt scored 11 runs.
Namibia fought back but never managed to catch up and fell far behind, needing 76 runs off the final three overs to win.
“It’s a huge relief,” Butler admitted, “It was a rainy and stressful day but I think we performed really well and everyone handled it really well with all the challenges that were thrown at us.”
Man of the match Brook added: “I was quite nervous, I didn’t think I would play. Thankfully the rain stopped.”
A concern for England was that Liam Livingstone was forced to leave with a side injury whilst batting and did not return to the field during Namibia’s chase.
Reece Topley, who did not feature in the first two matches, was in fine form, conceding just six runs from his two overs, including eight dot balls off 12 balls.
The decision to remove Will Jacks when it became clear that rain would shorten the match, and the success of Bairstow and Brook one place higher in the batting order at No. 3 and No. 4 respectively, have given manager Matthew Mott some interesting decisions to make this week ahead of the team’s opening Super Eight match against the West Indies on Wednesday night local time.
Fortunately for Mott, England still have a chance to win the tournament, but it will be a close one.