Chasing Pakistan’s target of 165 in a Super Eight clash, England got into a mini wobble after the departure of skipper Harry Brook before Jofra Archer took them home with a boundary. Brook said it got a “bit nervy” towards the end and he hoped it didn’t turn into “another Oval” moment.
Brook led from the front with a brilliant century off 51 balls as England clinched a thrilling two-wicket win to become the first team to seal a berth in the semis of the T20 World Cup 2026.
“A bit nervy at the end. I was about to say to Baz (Brendon McCullum) ‘hopefully this isn’t another Oval (vs India)’,” Brooks was referring to the century he scored in last year’s fifth Test at the Kia Oval, an innings that ultimately counted for little. England were chasing a record target against India but fell just six runs short on the final day, as the match ended in heartbreak and the series finished at 2-2.
“We’ve come here to do that job and we got it done. Very happy with the way we played there, and it’s just nice to get through to the semifinals now and we’ve got one more game against New Zealand and we’ll focus on that, but then the bigger prize will be on the other side,” Brook said.
In the Super Eight clash against Pakistan on Tuesday evening, the chase got jittery after Brook’s dismissal as England lost Will Jacks and Jamie Overton in the 19th over before Archer hit a boundary to take the team to 165 in 19.1 overs.
“Pakistan are good. They’re always good. They’re some of the world-class players in there. They have been for many years. And yeah, like I said, it’s just nice to get over the line.” Brook, moved up to No. 3 for the first time in the tournament, played a brilliant knock studded with 10 fours and four sixes.
On the promotion in the batting order, he said: “It was all Baz (Brendon McCullum). He came to me this morning and said, ‘what do you think about No. 3? Pakistan is your team’.
“We’ve spoken about adapting and changing all sorts throughout this competition and just having the bravery to do that today was awesome.
“We wanted to try and maximise the powerplay a little more. They know I like to take the game on. Thankfully it came off and we got a decent start.” said Brook and added that there are areas where England would still look to improve.
“There’s obviously areas that we still want to improve on and you can never quite get perfection, but we’re always striving for it.
“So, like I said, we’ll look towards the New Zealand game now and our mind is completely on that.” On scoring a World Cup hundred, he added: “I was just happy to be able to hit the ball, to be honest. We were in a tricky situation at the start and then a couple of partnerships there was nice and, like I said, just nice to get over the line.”
