Harry Brook (100, 51b, 10×4, 4×6) fancied a promotion to quantity three and struck a century to tug England to a two-wicket win over Pakistan of their T20 World Cup 2026 Tremendous Eight match on the Pallekele Worldwide Cricket Stadium in Kandy on Tuesday.
Brook grew to become the primary captain to notch a T20 World Cup ton, guaranteeing his group was not left to rue the three wickets it misplaced within the PowerPlay. It bought previous the 165-run goal with 5 balls to spare and sealed its place within the semifinals.
Strolling in after Phil Salt was caught behind off Shaheen Afridi (4 for 30) on the primary ball of the innings, Brook added 41 of the 53 runs within the first six overs and was unfazed regardless of a flurry of wickets. Afridi accounted for Jos Buttler and Jacob Bethell too however England stayed forward of the asking charge after Brook plundered 17 runs off Mohammad Nawaz’s over.
He picked up one other 17 off Shadab Khan within the eleventh over, which included a heave into the sightscreen and two boundaries with a sweep and a slog sweep. Pakistan’s final try at clawing again was smothered by Will Jacks, who picked Usman Tariq’s half-tracker past sq. leg from deep in his crease.
By the point Brook lofted successive deliveries over covers off Afridi’s sixteenth over to deliver up the 50-ball hundred, and perished one supply later, the outcome was merely a formality.
Mohammad Nawaz’s two wickets within the nineteenth over have been merely transient delays in England’s march to the end line.
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That Pakistan was within the recreation on the mid-innings interval was once more right down to Sahibzada Farhan (63, 45b, 7×4, 2×6), who cleaned up once more after a tepid begin.
The skiddy bounce of Jofra Archer that had accounted for Saim Ayub, inducing a forefront to deep high quality leg on a pull shot, was simply negotiated by Farhan. He made room to launch a slash over level earlier than using the bounce inside his crease to pummel Archer by way of midwicket.
Babar Azam switched between energy and precision towards Archer when he picked two consecutive boundaries, the primary with a pull by way of midwicket after which a nudge by way of third man.
However his brisk begin was diminished to run-a-ball after Adil Rashid put a leash on the scoring charge and compelled a 23-ball boundary drought. Babar caved in to the strain, went firing throughout the road towards Jamie Overton and noticed his fort rearranged.
Paying attention to the crashing tempo, Farhan and Fakhar Zaman supplied well timed momentum by taking over Jacks.
Fakhar shimmied down and wafted him over lengthy on, getting Pakistan its first most within the 14th over. Farhan emulated the outcome however with a slog sweep simply two balls later.
Farhan’s impending change in gears was imminent from his loft over covers and a swat down the bottom off Overton. Nevertheless it was averted on the very subsequent ball after Overton pinned him in entrance off a full supply.
Pakistan misplaced the plot in mimicking Farhan’s intent. Usman Khan and Mohammad Nawaz perished to blind slogging towards Liam Dawson (three for twenty-four), a stoop that introduced Pakistan crashing from 146 for 5 to 149 for eight.
Shadab’s 11-ball 23 noticed that Pakistan lasted the total 20 overs, however ultimately even that was not sufficient.
Revealed on Feb 24, 2026