England finished second in Group C behind West Indies.
The two-time former champions England have made it into the Super 8s of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. However, the captaincy of Harry Brook is under the scanner after close shaves against weaker sides.
England managed to secure the second spot in Group C with three wins but lost to West Indies. They were also pushed hard by all three lower ranked teams. Against Nepal, Sam Curran rescued them by defending eight runs off the final over. In the Scotland game, it was Tom Banton who played a knock of his life on a tricky pitch. Curran was the saviour against Italy as well, where his 3 for 22 propelled them to a 24-run victory.
It is quite crazy to think that England were one Curran bad over away from crashing out in the group stages. Skipper Harry Brook has had a big role in England’s underwhelming display so far.
England have barely survived against the smaller teams in the group stage. There were quite a few tactical blunders by Harry Brook that gave the momentum to the opponents and made England’s job much harder.
One of his criticisms has been the usage of Will Jacks’ bowling. Now Jacks is a pretty decent off-spin option but he is not a specialist. Brook gave him the sixth over against Nepal, and it worked as he took a wicket while conceding seven runs. But the very next game, Jacks was given the fifth over, in which he leaked 19 runs. Brook didn’t learn from it and handed him the ball in the sixth over against Italy, where Jacks gave away 13 runs.
It’s a basic error as the last two overs of the powerplay are considered the toughest overs to bowl. Feeding a part-time bowler to the opposition in this phase is quite honestly a sackable offence. Jacks has bowled six overs in the tournament and has conceded 83 runs. Which makes the situation all the more perplexing.
Curran has been England’s best pacer in the tournament, and the most reliable in death overs. And yet he did not complete his quota against Italy. It was a poor call from the captain, especially considering Curran was the one who broke the game with a double strike in the 16th over.
Brook could have easily bowled the left-arm seamer in 18th and 20th over. But he chose to call upon Adil Rashid in the 18th over, where he conceded three sixes to bring Italy back in the game. Curran had to dig them out of the hole yet again, giving away only five runs in the penultimate over.
Adil Rashid is the greatest white-ball spinner England have ever had. And he continues to be their premier asset in both the formats. In conditions where England had high expectations from him, he has not been at his best barring the West Indies game. The leg-spinner took 2 for 16 in that fixture but was hammered for 121 runs off 11 overs in the other three games.
Rashid likes to give the ball as much air as possible and often floats it. While this is good when the team needs wickets, the bowling style is not helpful in death overs where you need to bowl defensively. Despite that, Brook has continued to use Rashid in the final four overs to the detriment of the team.
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Jofra Archer is one of the best pacers in the world, and facing him with the new ball is not child’s play. However, the speedster hasn’t played much T20 cricket in recent years due to injuries and it has hampered his game. His death over bowling, in particular, has not evolved.
If we look at his phase-wise split in the tournament, Archer has taken five wickets in 10 overs in the powerplay at an excellent economy rate of 6.80. He has bowled twice in overs 12-16, conceding 20 runs. It gets worse in the slog overs, where he has leaked 61 runs off four overs.
There’s enough evidence to know that Archer is not a death overs bowler. Brook and the team management needs to realise that the sooner you finish his quota, the better chance you have to dominate the game.
England will be part of Group 2 in the Super 8s alongside New Zealand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The challenges will be tougher, and if they are to reach the semifinals, they can not afford errors that can be controlled.
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