England’s behavior of ‘winning ugly’ in tight video games offers them T20 World Cup hope | T20 World Cup 2026

Another win, and if England emerged from the Wankhede after their fraught victory towards Nepal on Sunday with out a lot of a strut to their step, they did so with two factors of their pockets and the bandwagon nonetheless rolling. They have now gained 11 of their 12 accomplished T20s up to now 12 months and of their most up-to-date two video games they’ve been reminded that profitable ugly might be extra highly effective than profitable simple.

“I wouldn’t have wanted it to be as close as it was to be honest,” Jacob Bethell mentioned. “But this is my first World Cup. Watching previous World Cups you want to get those little tricky games, to get a feel for them and just know you’ve got the confidence to get over the line in them. It’s not going to do us any harm to go through that.”

It was a superficially underwhelming show, with among the crew’s most dependable performers – most notably Adil Rashid and Jofra Archer – struggling. But there might be extra confidence that, even when the celebrities fail to shine, others will step up. And although England are nonetheless a good distance from even fascinated about profitable this event, additionally they know that edging such encounters might be the mark of a champion facet.

It is uncommon for any crew to win a World Cup with out coming by a minimum of one such sport. The 2024 champions India on their solution to defeat by Pakistan of their second match earlier than Jasprit Bumrah conceded simply three in its penultimate over. In 2022 England discovered themselves with no margin for error after shedding a rain-affected sport to Ireland and, of their remaining group match, edged previous Sri Lanka with two balls to spare. In 2021 Australia wanted solely 119 to beat South Africa of their first sport, and managed it once more with two balls remaining.

It had been notable that, within the days earlier than their marketing campaign bought underneath manner, the one sport of their current run England saved referring to was not the 146‑run defeat of South Africa in Manchester final September, or the stroll towards Ireland in Malahide with six wickets and almost three overs to spare, however the time they defended a meagre 128 in Pallekele.

It had, it’s true, been their most up-to-date outing, its recollections the freshest. But it was additionally a ropey efficiency, rescued in its remaining overs once they contrived to make Sri Lanka, from the apparently serene place of needing 39 off the final 42 balls with six wickets in hand, crumble. Bethell referred to as it “a nice tight finish”. Sometimes essentially the most savoured scorelines will not be these secured in most type.

“That game was awesome,” mentioned Harry Brook earlier than the beginning of event. “One thing we said after that was that the belief was there for every single one of them.

“We were well behind the game at one point. We were at drinks and we all just went: ‘Look lads, anything can happen here. We get a couple of wickets and it all changes.’ We all had that belief to go out there and win that game.”

What Brook can’t have realised was how quickly he would wish to faucet in to that reserve of confidence. Five days later, and a couple of,000km away, his crew had been again on the sphere, speaking at one other drinks break, and as soon as once more reminding one another how rapidly issues would possibly change.

“We just spoke about how there’s a long time left to go in the game. Six overs,” Will Jacks mentioned.

“Everything happens quickly in T20 cricket. Six overs is still a very long time. After that we bowled two very good overs and all of a sudden we were ahead. That’s how quickly the game can change.

“Harry was very good there at keeping level‑headed. Jos [Buttler] spoke as well. Those experienced guys are crucial when those pressure situations come around.”

Those drinks had been taken after 14 overs of Nepal’s run chase. England, and plenty of impartial observers, had believed their complete of 184 was sufficient to safe a snug victory, however Nepal had simply plundered 19 runs from what turned out to be Rashid’s remaining over.

From there England turned the sport round with two wickets, and 16 runs, from the following three overs solely to give up management once more. They discovered themselves with six balls to go, defending 10, with the ball within the palms of Sam Curran.

“That last game in Sri Lanka gave us confidence,” Bethell mentioned. “And when you’ve got match-winners in the team like Sam – he’s a match-winner, it doesn’t matter what he’s done previously in the game or games prior, if you need him to come and win you a game, he’s there for you.”

For Liam Dawson, lastly enjoying a World Cup sport on the age of 35 and at his fifth event as a squad member or travelling reserve, it had already been a memorable day.

“We’d tried to play a good game but fair play to Nepal, they had us on the ropes,” he mentioned. “It was far from a perfect performance, but you come to a World Cup and you just want to win. Sometimes you win ugly – you don’t play your best, but you just win.”

For England, Sunday was not a assured first step on their World Cup journey nevertheless it might need been a helpful one. “I think winning ugly is a great trait. It’s incredibly difficult to replicate that experience that you get,” Jacks mentioned. “A game like that, where we potentially weren’t expecting it to go down to the last ball and it has – hopefully when we get in that situation in the rest of the tournament, which we definitely will at some stage, we’ll be able to look back on this experience and take that with us.”