England vs USA. (Source – Getty Images)
England came into their last Super 8 encounter against the USA with an eye on their NRR and some mathematics about it. At the end of it, England might have possibly overdone it. But England managed to win and get a certain berth for themselves in the semifinals of the T20 World Cup 2024.
England made it difficult for USA to come back into the game. While USA had a relatively healthy powerplay scoring 48 runs, Player of the Match Adil Rashid(2 for 13) ultimately led to the USA losing their way for a while. All hopes of a comeback were shattered when Chris Jordan(4 for 10), took 4 wickets in 5 balls including a hat-trick to stop the USA to just 115.
The calculators determined that England needed to chase this total in 18.4 overs or less(incidentally one ball less than what USA managed) to take their NRR above South Africa and guarantee a spot in the semifinals. Phil Salt was just there, as Jos Buttler(83* off 38) decided to take matters into his own hands and went all guns blazing. The highlight of the match was when he hit Harmeet Singh for five sixes in an over that simply sealed the game as England chased the target down in just 9.4 overs, almost the halfway mark that they had to do it in.
Here are the major stats from the match:
1 – Adil Rashid with 30 moved up to joint first with Stuart Broad on the chart for England bowlers with the most wickets in T20 World Cups. Chris Jordan with 28 is closely tailing the duo.
1 – Chris Jordan’s was the first-ever hat-trick by an England bowler in T20Is.
1 – Chris Jordan became the second bowler to take four wickets in an over in the T20 World Cup. While Jordan’s 4 came in 5 balls, Curtis Campher took 4 wickets in 4 balls against Ireland in 2021.
1 – Chris Jordan with 47 became the player with the most catches as a fielder for England in T20Is.
2 – Jos Buttler became the second player to hit five or more sixes in an over in T20 World Cups. Yuvraj Singh famously hit Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over in 2007.
1 – Jos Buttler’s 7 sixes are the joint most by an England batter in an innings in the T20 World Cup. Alex Hales had hit the same amount against India in the semifinal of the 2022 edition.
6 – 2024 is now the 6th calendar year where Jos Buttler has hit 1000 or more T20 runs. Only Chris Gayle with 9 has more such calendar years.
2 – Jos Buttler’s 7 sixes in this innings moved up his overall tally in T20 World Cups to 43. He is now second, behind Chris Gayle who hit 63 sixes in T20 World Cups. Rohit Sharma and David Warner are in tow with 40 each.
2 – Buttler’s strike rate of 218.42 is the second highest in a T20 World Cup innings of at least 80 runs. Aaron Jones’ strike rate of 235 in his unbeaten 94 against Canada in the first match of the ongoing tournament is the highest.
1 – 62 balls are the highest amount remaining after winning in a chase in the T20 World Cup. Australia had done it with 58 balls to spare against Sri Lanka in 2007.
3 – The defending champions of a T20 World Cup have never even made the final, but England are the third defending champions after Pakistan in 2010 and West Indies in 2014 to make the semifinals.
1 – England are the first team to win two T20 World Cup matches by 10 wickets. They had previously beaten India by 10 wickets in the semifinal of the 2022 edition. Oman, Australia, Pakistan and South Africa all have one each.