BRIDGETOWN: Chris Jordan took four wickets in five balls, including the third hat-trick of the T20 World Cup, as defending champions England qualified for the semi-finals with a 10-wicket thrashing of the United States in his native Barbados on Sunday.

The 35-year-old all-rounder, born and educated on the Caribbean island, justified his recall for this match in spectacular fashion with the remarkable figures of 4-10 in 2.5 overs as the United States were dismissed for 115.

England captain Jos Buttler then led from the front in a blistering chase with an unbeaten 83, featuring five sixes in an over from Harmeet Singh, as his side raced to their target in a mere 9.4 overs.

By winning so quickly, England secured a place in the last four, regardless of the outcome of the final Gro­up Two Super Eights match between co-hosts the West Indies and South Africa in Antigua and any associated net run-rate calculations.

Buttler faced just 38 balls, including six fours and seven sixes, but the day belonged to Jordan, whose hat-trick was the third of this tournament, with Australia’s Pat Cummins achieving the feat against both Bangladesh and Afgh­anistan and the first by an England bowler in any men’s T20 international.

“Unbelievable feeling, more importantly to restr­ict USA and to do it in a special place like this is always nice,” said Jordan. “Been on a hat-trick a few times, nice to get it on target this time.”

Buttler added: “I wanted to bring CJ (Chris Jordan) back in to add a little bit of depth to the batting and we know what he is capable of with the ball. He executed it fantastically well, and a World Cup hat-trick is a great effort.”

As for his own form, Buttler said: “Personally it’s really important I continue this into the semi-finals. I have been feeling good all year, I feel I am hitting the ball well and it is nice to get that confidence.”

The United States, one of the surprise packages of the event after defeating Pakistan on their way to the second round, were 115-6 when Jordan came onto bowl the 19th over.

His first ball of the over saw Corey Anderson hit a fast and low full toss to Harry Brook at long-on as the former New Zealand all-rounder fell for 29.

Two balls later, paceman Jordan clean bowled Ali Khan for a duck, the off-stump knocked out of the ground.

Next ball Nosthush Kenjige was plumb lbw and Jordan then completed his hat-trick — and ended the innings — by bowling Saur­abh Netravalkar betw­een bat and pad to remove the last man’s middle stump.

The United States were relatively well-placed at 48-2 at the end of the six-over powerplay.

But leg-spinner Adil Rashid then bowled two excellent googlies to dismiss Aaron Jones and Nitish Kumar, whose 30 was the highest score of the innings, in a miserly haul of 2-13.

England started their reply knowing victory in 17.4 overs would see them advance to the semi-finals regardless of events elsewhere.

Buttler signalled his intentions early on with an extraordinary 104-metre six before Mumbai-born left-arm spinner Harmeet then felt the full force of his bat.

England must now wait another 24 hours to discover the identity of their semi-final opponents.

SCOREBOARD

Afghanistan Vs Australia

AFGHANISTAN:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Warner b Stoinis 60

Ibrahim Zadran c Marsh b Zampa 51

Azmatullah Omarzai b Zampa 2

Karim Janat c David b Cummins 13

Rashid Khan c David b Cummins 2

Mohammad Nabi not out 10

Gulbadin Naib c Maxwell b Cummins 0

Nangeyalia Kharote not out 1

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-1, W-4) 9

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 148

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-118 (Gurbaz), 2-121 (Omarzai), 3-122 (Zadran), 4-126 (Rashid), 5-141 (Janat), 6-141 (Naib)

DID NOT BAT: Noor Ahmed, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi

BOWLING: Agar 4-1-17-0, Hazlewood 4-0-39-0 (1w), Cummins 4-0-28-3 (1w), Zampa 4-0-28-2 (1w), Maxwell 2-0-12-0 (1w), Stoinis 2-0-19-1

AUSTRALIA:

T. Head b Naveen 0

D. Warner c Noor b Nabi 3

M. Marsh c Nabi b Naveen 12

G. Maxwell c Noor b Naib 59

M. Stoinis c Gurbaz b Naib 11

T. David lbw b Naib 2

M. Wade c Janat b Rashid 5

P. Cummins b Naib 3

A. Agar c Naib b Naveen 2

A. Zampa c Nabi b Omarzai 9

J. Hazlewood not out 5

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-6, NB-1, W-7) 16

TOTAL (all out, 19.2 overs) 127

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Head), 2-16 (Marsh), 3-32 (Warner), 4-71 (Stoinis), 5-85 (David), 6-106 (Maxwell), 7-108 (Wade), 8-111 (Cummins), 9-113 (Agar)

BOWLING: Naveen 4-0-20-3, Farooqi 3-0-21-0 (1nb), Omarzai 1.2-0-10-1, Nabi 1-0-1-1, Kharote 1-0-13-0, Rashid 4-0-23-1 (2w), Noor 1-0-11-0 (1w), Naib 4-0-20-4

RESULT: Afghanistan won by 21 runs.

USA Vs England

USA:

S. Taylor c Ali b Curran 12

A. Gous c Salt b Topley 8

N. Kumar b Rashid 30

A. Jones b Rashid 10

C. Anderson c Brook b Jordan 29

M. Kumar c Buttler b Livingstone 4

H. Singh c Jordan b Curran 21

S. van Schalkwyk not out 0

A. Khan b Jordan 0

N. Kenjige lbw b Jordan 0

S. Netravalkar b Jordan 0

EXTRAS (W-1) 1

TOTAL (all out, 18.5 overs) 115

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9 (Gous), 2-43 (Taylor), 3-56 (Jones), 4-67 (N. Kumar), 5-88 (M. Kumar), 6-115 (H. Singh), 7-115 (Anderson), 8-115 (A. Khan), 9-115 (Kenjige)

BOWLING: Topley 3-0-29-1, Archer 3-0-16-0, Curran 2-0-23-2, Rashid 4-0-13-2 (1w), Livingstone 4-0-24-1, Jordan 2.5-0-10-4

ENGLAND:

P. Salt not out 25

J. Buttler not out 83

EXTRAS (NB-1, W-8) 9

TOTAL (for no wicket, 9.4 overs) 117

DID NOT BAT: J. Bairstow, H. Brook, M. Ali, L. Livingstone, S. Curran, C. Jordan, J. Archer, A. Rashid, R. Topley

BOWLING: Netravalkar 2-0-21-0, H. Singh 2-0-36-0 (2w), Kenjige 2-0-19-0, A. Khan 2-0-26-0 (2w), van Schalkwyk 1.4-0-15-0 (1nb)

RESULT: England won by 10 wickets.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2024