4 months ago
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Brook hits three boundaries after the rain delay
Matthew Henry
BBC Sport Journalist in Antigua
England beat the rain and Namibia to keep their T20 World Cup defence alive - but are still reliant on Australia beating Scotland to go through to the Super 8s.
The weather threatened to wash the match out entirely - a scenario that would have eliminated England - but eventually the clouds cleared to allow a frantic, shortened contest.
Initially given 11 overs to bat, England were 13-2, including captain Jos Buttler out for a four-ball duck, but rallied to post 122-5 in an innings reduced to 10 overs by another shower.
Harry Brook made a crucial and enterprising 47 not out from 20 balls, while Jonny Bairstow hit 31 from 18.
Namibia's target was increased to 126 because of the interruption and, despite finding wickets hard to come by, England always restricted the scoring.
A dramatic day took another turn when Namibia opener Nikolaas Davin retired out to bring big-hitting David Wiese to the crease with 82 from 24 balls needed. But even with Wiese striking 27 from 12, Namibia finished on 84-3 - England winners by 41 runs.
They must now wait to see if Australia beat Scotland in a match that starts at 01:30 BST on Sunday.
If they do, barring an improbably high-scoring match, England will go through to the Super 8s, where they will play their first match on Thursday (01:30 BST).
If Scotland beat Australia for the first time in their history, or if there is no result in St Lucia, Buttler's side will miss out.
England do their bit after early concerns
Trumpelmann bowls Buttler for a duck
The job is not yet done for England but for a long while it looked as though they would not even get into this position. The match was 46 minutes away from being abandoned when conditions finally allowed play to begin at 16:00 local time.
English nerves jangled when play did begin as Wiese conceded only two from his first 10 balls on a pitch offering plenty before left-armer Ruben Trumpelmann castled Buttler and Phil Salt nicked behind.
It was Bairstow who initially broke the shackles by hitting spinner Bernard Scholtz for four with a reverse sweep, and followed that up by clubbing a six.
After that Brook was superb – producing his best World Cup knock at a crucial moment.
When England resumed on 82-3 after eight overs following the rain interruption and he flat-batted seamer Jack Brassell for six over extra cover and delicately scooped two for four over fine leg.
Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone both struck two sixes late on - they made 16 from six balls and a four-ball 13 respectively - as England recovered to a score well above par.
One concern for them will be a potential injury to Livingstone, who did not field after hurting himself while batting.
Bowlers keep Namibia at arm's length
England had brought in all-rounder Sam Curran for Will Jacks and rested key strike bowler Mark Wood and, in fairness, knew wickets were not essential.
They simply had to ensure Namibia did not get close to their score and bowled accordingly.
Reece Topley started with a no-ball but only conceded six runs in his first two overs either side of Jofra Archer conceding 12 – 10 of which were off Michael van Lingen’s top edge.
Namibia were 44-0 when Davin wandered off – the require run-rate having climbed to 20 per over.
Wiese struck his first ball for four and crunched Adil Rashid for two huge sixes before walking off having been caught at long-on off Archer in the final over.
He raised his bat and received applause from both sides in what looked like the 39-year-old's departure from the international stage.
That came four balls after England's first legitimate wicket, which came with the final ball of the ninth over, when Chris Jordan had Van Lingen caught at long-on.
Their bowling lacked threat but England did enough. Now all eyes turn to St Lucia.
'A big relief' - what they said
England captain Jos Buttler: "It's a big relief. It's been a stressful day with the rain coming down, but I think we put in a really good performance. We were well prepared.
"I thought that was a really good score on that wicket. When I got out I thought 85/90 might be a good score.
"We had the two games rained out against Pakistan in England, the Scotland game, everyone's dealt with everything that's been thrown at us really well."
Player of the match Harry Brook: "There was a lot of anxiety, we didn't think we'd get out there. Thankfully the rain stopped.
Ex-England bowler Steven Finn on Test Match Special: "It's been an excellent performance by England. It's very tricky to remain positive while waiting for the rain, fearing they'll be turfed out of the tournament. But what they've produced on the pitch has been excellent."
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