Building Belief Through Close Victories
After securing a tense win against Nepal, Harry Brook’s England cricket team is gaining confidence as genuine contenders in the T20 World Cup. Despite leaving the Wankhede Stadium without much fanfare, England earned two crucial points, extending their impressive run to 11 wins in their last 12 completed T20 matches over the past year. Their recent games have underscored that winning in difficult circumstances can be as valuable as winning comfortably.
“I wouldn’t have wanted it to be as close as it was to be honest,” said Jacob Bethell. “But this is my first World Cup. Watching previous World Cups you want to get those little tricky games, to get a feel for them and just know you’ve got the confidence to get over the line in them. I think it’s not going to do us any harm to go through that.”
The performance against Nepal was not among England’s most polished, with key players such as Adil Rashid and Jofra Archer struggling. However, the team now has increased assurance that when some stars falter, others will rise to the occasion. While England remains far from being favorites to win the tournament, they recognize that prevailing in tight matches is often characteristic of champions.
Close Games: A Hallmark of Champions
Winning a World Cup typically requires navigating at least one challenging encounter. For instance, the 2024 champions India appeared headed for defeat against Pakistan until Jasprit Bumrah’s economical penultimate over, conceding just three runs, shifted momentum. In 2022, England faced no margin for error after a rain-affected loss to Ireland and had to fight hard in their final group match. Similarly, Australia in 2021 successfully chased a modest target against South Africa with only two balls to spare.
Before the current World Cup began, England repeatedly referenced a recent match from their run rather than their dominant 146-run victory over South Africa in Manchester last September or the comfortable win over Ireland in Malahide. Instead, they recalled a game that was far less straightforward.
That match, their most recent outing at the time, was a tense affair rescued only in the final overs when England, needing 39 runs from 42 balls with six wickets in hand, managed to unsettle Sri Lanka and secure victory. Bethell described it as
“a nice tight finish.”This highlighted that sometimes the most valued wins are those achieved under pressure rather than with ease.
“That game was awesome,” Harry Brook said from his Mumbai hotel before the World Cup started. “One thing we said after that was that the belief was there for every single one of them. We were well behind the game at one point. We were at drinks and we all just went, ‘Look lads, anything can happen here. We get a couple of wickets and it all changes.’ We all had that belief to go out there and win that game.”
Confidence Tested Early in the Tournament
Brook could not have anticipated how quickly his team would need to draw on that confidence. Just five days later, 2,000 kilometers away, England found themselves once again at a drinks break during a tense match, reminding each other how rapidly the game could shift.
“We just spoke about how there’s a long time left to go in the game. Six overs,” said Will Jacks. “Everything happens quickly in T20 cricket. Six overs is still a very long time. After that we bowled two very good overs and all of a sudden we were ahead. That’s how quickly the game can change. I think Harry was very good there at keeping level-headed. Jos [Buttler] spoke as well. I think those experienced guys are crucial when those pressure situations come around.”
These drinks came after 14 overs of Nepal’s run chase. England and many neutral observers had assumed their total of 184 runs would be sufficient for a comfortable win. However, Nepal had just scored 19 runs off what became Adil Rashid’s final over. England responded by taking two wickets and conceding only 16 runs over the next three overs, but then lost control again. With six balls remaining and only 10 runs to defend, the ball was in Sam Curran’s hands.
“That last game in Sri Lanka gave us confidence,” Bethell said. “And when you’ve got match-winners in the team like Sam – he’s a match-winner, it doesn’t matter what he’s done previously in the game or games prior, if you need him to come and win you a game, he’s there for you.”
Memorable World Cup Debut for Liam Dawson
For Liam Dawson, who was finally playing his first World Cup game at age 35 and attending his fifth tournament as a squad member or travelling reserve, the day was particularly memorable.
“We’d tried to play a good game but fair play to Nepal, they had us on the ropes,” Dawson said. “It was far from a perfect performance, but you come to a World Cup and you just want to win. Sometimes you win ugly – you don’t play your best, but you just win.”
Learning from Tough Matches
Sunday’s match was not a confident start for England’s World Cup campaign, but it may prove to be a valuable one. The experience of winning under pressure is difficult to replicate and can be crucial later in the tournament.
“I think winning ugly is a great trait. It’s incredibly difficult to replicate that experience that you get,” Jacks said. “A game like that, where we potentially weren’t expecting it to go down to the last ball and it has – hopefully when we get in that situation in the rest of the tournament, which we definitely will at some stage, we’ll be able to look back on this experience and take that with us.”
