Harry Brook century drives England to nervy victory against Pakistan

Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of the 2026 T20 World Cup Super Eights Group Two match between England and Pakistan in Pallekele. Kandy must be among England’s favourite homes from home, not just for its beauty – they have won four games on the bounce there this year in bilaterals against the hosts and then again versus Sri Lanka in their first match at this stage on Sunday. At times during that victory, in comments sections, social media, on TMS and on the ICC’s world feed used by Sky, there was something more than disquiet about England’s performance with the bat. Rage at slipshod batting during the Ashes and a general impatience with Brendon McCullum has not been diluted by the switch in formats. If anything it seems to have redoubled.

And yet England won comfortably, once again proving Sir Geoffrey Boycott’s old adage about it being foolish to judge a pitch until you have seen both sides batting on it to be as perceptive as ever. England have triumphed in a couple of nippers against Nepal and Scotland and were beaten by West Indies who have been magnificent so far and are, with South Africa, streets ahead of everyone else, including the hosts India. Given that Pakistan vs New Zealand was a washout, though, victory for England today would all but guarantee a semi-final place with a game to spare. How they then overcome one of the titans from Group One can be left for another day.

Victory over Pakistan, a team they have beaten in all three previous meetings at the T20 World Cup and in the past five bilaterals in succession, is not a given even if they will be playing on a fresh pitch today rather than Sunday’s tacky strip. The opener Sahbizada Farhan is the tournament’s leading runscorer with 220, including an unbeaten hundred in his last innings plus a 47 and 73 before that. Beneath him, however, no other batsman has accumulated a hundred runs across their four completed matches while England’s Jacob Bethell, Will Jacks, Phil Salt, Sam Curran and Harry Brook have all managed that, albeit in five. England have not been able to collar finger-spinners in the tournament so far and in Usman Tariq (see below), Mohammad Nawaz, the Bertie Bassett Saim Ayub, plus the leggies Abrah Ahmed and Shadab Kahn, they have quite the battery.

The big worry remains England’s greatest white-ball batsman, Jos Buttler, who has scores of 26, 21, three, three and seven so far. Having said that, in Pallekele last month he made a swashbuckling 17, then 39 and 25 in England’s three victories and the left shoulder wiggle that tells us all about his intent and confidence was present on Sunday. He may not regain his swagger today and score heavily but it is far too soon to write him off. England were given the day off on Monday after their exertions in sweltering humidity the night before. But Buttler insisted on having a net and, encouragingly, found the middle of his bat.