England defeated Sri Lanka in their last Super 12 game of the T20 World Cup to qualify for the semi-final as the second team from Group 1, after New Zealand. This also led to Australia’s elimination from the tournament.

Australia’s four-run win against Afghanistan on Friday had drastically reduced their hopes of qualifying for the semi-final as their net run rate rose to a mere -0.173. Once that happened, the only way they could qualify was somehow England not getting their two points against their Sri Lanka.

New Zealand, with seven points, had sealed their spot with a net run rate of +2.113. Australia managed seven too, but the 89-run defeat against New Zealand in the opener hurt them.

England, thus, needed a win, which they managed to complete. It knocked out the hosts Australia. However, Sri Lanka (and thus, Australia) would have been optimistic through the day, as England looked unconvincing and just about managed to chase down 142 with two balls to spare. Sri Lanka had reached 54-1 after the powerplay and looked set for a competitive target before England pulled things back to restrict them to 141-8.

England then began strongly with the bat, reaching 75-0 in 7.1 overs, but collapsed to 111-5 against spin. Ben Stokes saw them through, with an unbeaten 42 in 36 balls. They finished second in the group and will play the toppers of Group 2 in the semi-final on Thursday.

There were plenty of reactions surrounding the win, with Australians disappointed at missing out and others pointing out that England do have loopholes, which they should look to address before the knockouts.

Bugger…

— Glenn Maxwell (@Gmaxi_32) November 5, 2022

Australia had opportunities to control their NRR but they didn't grasp. Yes hindsight but they needed to cut only 52 runs from the opponents to qualify for the semis. In Australia's last two games, Ireland went from 25-5 to 137 and Afghanistan went from 103-6 to 164.

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) November 5, 2022

I had thought Australia would be the most explosive team of the tournament. I thought there was something missing, and I can't put a finger on it, but they were a bit tepid. Maybe they are over-reliant on Warner, who is their talisman.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 5, 2022

England are definitely beatable #T20WorldCup

— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) November 5, 2022

No team has ever retained the T20 World Cup.

The list of winners:

2007 India
2009 Pakistan
2010 England
2012 West Indies
2014 Sri Lanka
2016 West Indies
2021 Australia#T20WorldCup #Cricket

— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) November 5, 2022

Ben Stokes’ best T20 innings for England: calm, clinical, focused.

— Simon Mann (@Cricket_Mann) November 5, 2022

Aust eliminated by .573 on net run rate, essentially through the combined contributions of Lorcan Tucker and Rashid Khan #T20WorldCup

— Daniel Brettig 🏏 (@danbrettig) November 5, 2022

Not many would’ve thought that it would be a trial by spin, that would determine qualification to the semis for England in a World Cup in Australia #ENGvSL

— Bazid Khan (@bazidkhan81) November 5, 2022

England should still win but this is highlighting 2 things

England should have used more spin

Stokes will show all those that think he shouldn’t be playing why he is a class above 🤞🤞#ENGvSL #T20WorldCup2022

— Azeem Rafiq (@AzeemRafiq30) November 5, 2022

Malan is England's best player of spin in T20 by some distance IMO (and one of the best in the world).

Some very shoddy batting in the middle order.

— Dr Rakib Ehsan (@rakibehsan) November 5, 2022

Awful from England this. Such a muddled approach and the refusal to send Moeen against the spin just because Stokes is out there too is weird. Just get over the line 🤞

— Ben Smith 🐝 (@ben_smith025) November 5, 2022

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