If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.  Harry Brook, England’s captain, took matters into his own hands in Pallekele, promoting himself to No. 3 and blazing his maiden T20 international hundred to drag his team past Pakistan and into the semi-finals of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026  with a game to spare, almost single-handedly.

Brook started the tournament, his first as captain, with 53 against Nepal but had been dismissed by spin for less than 20 for four innings in a row. His response was to move up two spots from No. 5 in order to bat in the powerplay, and he found himself walking out to face the second ball after Shaheen Shah Afridi  – recalled by Pakistan – struck with the first ball of England’s chase.

Afridi took three wickets in the powerplay to check England’s progress, and Usman Tariq  struck twice in the middle overs to reduce them to 58 for 4 and then 103 for 5. But Brook continued to flay Pakistan’s attack to all parts, reaching a 50-ball hundred by launching Afridi over cover for six and then over mid-off for four.

He was cleaned up one ball later by Afridi’s pinpoint yorker, but walked off to a standing ovation with England needing only 10 to win. They made hard work of it, gifting two wickets to Mohammad Nawaz to take the game into the 20th over, but Jofra Archer smeared Salman Mirza through midwicket as England’s dugout breathed a sigh of relief.

England’s win sealed their qualification for the semi-finals with a match to spare, and they will top the group if they can beat New Zealand in Colombo on Friday. They are yet to put a complete performance together and were shoddy in the field against Pakistan, but have now reached the semi-finals for a fifth men’s T20 World Cup in a row.

Pakistan, meanwhile, must beat Sri Lanka in their final group game and rely on other results falling their way. Despite  Shahibzada Farhan’s impressive 63, they always look short on runs after they were bogged down by spin in the middle overs, with Liam Dawson’s 3 for 24 the outstanding performance among England’s attack.

Brief scores:

England 166 for 8 in 19.1 overs  (Harry Brook 100, Sam Curran 16, Will Jacks 28; Shaheen Shah Afridi 4-30, Mohammad Nawaz 2-26,  Usman Tarique 2-31) beat Pakistan 164 for 9 in 20 overs (Shahibzada Farhan 63, Babar Azam 25, Fakhar Zaman 25,  Shadab Khan 23; Jofra Archer 2-32, Jamie Overton 2-26, Liam  Dawson 3-24, Adil Rashid 1-31) by two wickets

(Cricinfo)