England have become the second team to qualify for ICC T20 World Cup 2022 semi-finals. Captain Jos Buttler and his men have joined New Zealand as the second-ranked Group 1 team to move to the next round from Super 12s.
Advertisement
England’s progress was guaranteed post winning their last Super 12 match against Sri Lanka in Sydney tonight. However, it wasn’t a victory as convincing as they would’ve liked especially after a 44-ball 75-run opening partnership between Buttler (28) and opening partner Alex Hales (47) whilst chasing a 142-run target.
A middle-order collapse resulted in England needing five runs off the last over which they managed to achieve via a Chris Woakes cut for a boundary on the fourth ball of the over. Still yet to find top form in this format, all-rounder Ben Stokes (42*) was exceptional in remaining calm and composed without wickets falling continuously from the other end throughout the run-chase.
I dont know how England made a mess out of this chase. But thats the story of this highly competitive world cup.
But England through to semi finals.— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) November 5, 2022
Jos Buttler appreciates T20I growth of key player Sam Curran
Admitting that he didn’t enjoy the closeness of a match after they had gained a certain advantage, Buttler hailed Stokes for proving his mettle in a crunch situation. Stokes, who hasn’t been assigned a particular role per se in this English T20I setup for now, can perform all kind of roles according to Buttler.
Buttler, who also wholeheartedly praised Player of the Match Adil Rashid (1/16) and Hales, joined former England captain Michael Vaughan in expressing approval of all-rounder Sam Curran. Having cemented his spot on the back of fantastic death-bowling skills in addition to his tendency to contribute across divisions, Curran is England’s best bowler in this World Cup.
“He’s someone who keeps growing and growing. Having such a good run of games in the team, again he’s that sort of fierce competitor who wants to be in the tough moments. He’s got real method to what he’s doing and he’s got a lot of different options which makes him tough to line up,” Buttler told the broadcaster with respect to Curran during the post-match presentation ceremony.
In four matches thus far, Curran has picked 10 wickets at an average of 9.40, an economy rate of 6.40 and a strike rate of 8.8. Currently the joint third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, Curran will doubtlessly be eyeing the top spot with potentially two more matches to be played.
