Tom Banton’s unbeaten 63 led England to a five-wicket T20 World Cup victory over Scotland in Kolkata on Saturday that kept Harry Brook’s side on course for the Super Eights.
Victory in their final Group C match against Italy on Monday at the same Eden Gardens stadium will see England safely into the next round.
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After bowling Scotland out for 152, England racked up 155-5 in 18.2 overs, with Jacob Bethell scoring 32, Sam Curran 28 and Will Jacks (16 off 10 balls) hitting a six and a four to finish the job.
“I think our full focus was on tonight and then obviously on to Italy in two days’ time,” said Banton, who hit form after scoring just four runs in England’s first two matches.
“It’s T20 cricket. It’s a high-risk game. And you’ve got to keep backing yourself. At times it goes against you. And it’s hard.
“You’ve got to keep coming back, keep trying hard, keep practising. Luckily, today’s my day.” England wobbled at the start of their chase as the new white ball swung under the floodlights with the sun going down.
Phil Salt fell third ball to Brandon McMullen for just two and when Jos Buttler picked out McMullen off Brad Currie they were 13-2.
Scotland bowled tightly until Bethell broke the shackles by hitting McMullen for a six and two fours in the fifth over.
Spinner Mark Watt also came in for some punishment, conceding 22 off his first over as Banton took him for three huge sixes.
A 66-run partnership ended when the left-handed Bethell on 32 helped a leg-side delivery from Oliver Davidson into the grateful hands of Brad Wheal at short fine leg.
Captain Brook did not last long, scooping Michael Leask over his shoulder to Wheal to make it 86-4 but England were always in control and got home with 10 balls to spare.
– Bowlers in the groove –
Earlier, England’s bowlers found their mojo and vindicated Brook’s decision to field on winning the toss.
After being smacked to all parts of Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium in conceding 196 to the West Indies on Wednesday, England’s attack exerted much more control at Eden Gardens.
Captain Richie Berrington top-scored for Scotland with 49 off 32 balls with five fours and two sixes.
He and Tom Bruce put on 71 for the fourth wicket, but it was their only notable partnership.
Spinner Liam Dawson ended it in the 13th over when Bruce was caught for 24, Curran providing the safe hands at deep square leg.
Scotland collapsed when Adil Rashid trapped Berrington lbw in the next over, losing their last seven wickets for 39 runs from 113-3.
Jofra Archer had been expensive in the two previous outings but made the early breakthroughs before finishing with a brilliant 2-24 off his four overs.
In his second over, he hurried George Munsey into top-edging to Banton and two balls later had McMullen caught by Salt in the deep.
Michael Jones (33) holed out to Bethell off Curran and Scotland were 42-3 at the end of the six-over power play and never threatened a competitive total.
Rashid was the best of the England bowlers with 3-36 from his four overs, while Dawson took 2-34
Gilly: Australia can win without Smith | 03:29
PROTEAS HUMBLE KIWIS
Captain Aiden Markam’s unbeaten 86 and 4-40 by Marco Jansen led South Africa to a seven-wicket thrashing of New Zealand on Saturday to all but book their Super Eights berth at the T20 World Cup.
Left-arm quick Jansen helped limit New Zealand to 175-7 in the top of the table clash in Group D in Ahmedabad.
South Africa ran riot in the six-over power play, racking up 83-1 to set up a comfortable chase of their 176 target.
David Miller finished it off with a massive winning six to take South Africa to 178-3 with 17 balls to spare for their third win in three games.
“I think it’s obviously important to acknowledge the fact that we got on the right side of the toss — the ball came on quite nicely in the second innings,” said Markram.
“But having said that, the boys still had to put in a massive effort, specifically with the ball, to restrict it to what they did. I thought it was a really good effort.” South Africa and New Zealand are still favourites to advance as the top two in Group D, though United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan both retain an outside chance of going through.
Markram came out roaring with a flurry of boundaries and raced to his fifty in 19 balls with a six off New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner, his fourth of the innings.
He also hit eight fours in his unbeaten 44-ball innings.
South Africa lost Quinton de Kock, for 20, and Ryan Rickelton, for 21 off a good catch in the deep by Daryl Mitchell, but Markram looked fluent.
Dewald Brevis fell for 21 off Rachin Ravindra’s left-arm spin. Fast bowler Lockie Ferguson dropped Markram on 69 off his own bowling to add to New Zealand’s woes.
Miller was unbeaten on 24 as he and Markram added an unbroken 47 to see their side home.
– ‘Bowled really well’ –
Earlier New Zealand started cautiously before Finn Allen, who hit 31 off 17 balls, took three fours and a six off Lungi Ngidi in the third over.
Tim Seifert joined the charge with a six off Jansen, but the left-arm quick hit back by having him caught behind for 13 from the next ball.
Jansen struck twice in his next over to dismiss Ravindra, for 13, and Allen in the space of four deliveries.
New Zealand slipped to 64-4 when Keshav Maharaj bowled Glenn Phillips, for one, with his left-arm spin.
Mitchell and Mark Chapman, who top scored with 48, then put together 74 runs for the fifth wicket to give New Zealand hope of reaching 200.
But South Africa’s move to bring back Jansen paid off as he denied Chapman a fifty with a slower delivery that the all-rounder sliced to backward point.
Jansen was named player of the match.
“He bowled really well tonight,” Mitchell said of Jansen’s bowling. “Their bowlers, you can probably tell, they have played on this surface before a couple of times, their plans and how they operate.” Mitchell fell for 32 and Santner for four before Jimmy Neesham ended the innings with successive fours in his 15-ball 23.
India smash Namibia in record win | 02:34
IRISH SKIPPER’S BLISTERING KNOCK
Captain Lorcan Tucker struck an unbeaten 94 to power Ireland to a mammoth 235-5 against Oman on Saturday, the highest total so far in this year’s T20 World Cup.
Tucker hit 10 fours and four sixes in his 51-ball knock but missed out on the first century of this edition with George Dockrell getting three hits over the fence to finish off the innings in Colombo.
Tucker put on 101 runs for the fifth wicket with Gareth Delany, who made 56 off 30 balls, to set up the second highest total ever in the T20 World Cup.
The highest was Sri Lanka’s 260-6 against Kenya in 2007.
Put in to bat, Ireland were in trouble at 64-4 but Tucker and Delany took the attack to the opposition and Dockrell finished it with his clean hitting in his nine-ball 35.
Left-arm spinner Shakeel Ahmed opened the attack for Oman and returned figures of 3-33 in his four overs.
Both teams are searching for their first win in Group B of the 20-team tournament.
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