England 166 for 8 (Brook 100, Afridi 4-30) beat Pakistan 164 for 9 (Farhan 63, Dawson 3-24) by two wickets
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 Sahibzada 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.
Brook at his best
It has been a long, challenging winter on the road for Brook, punctuated by reminders of his devastating best. His tour to New Zealand, now associated with his altercation with a nightclub bouncer, featured a stunning 135; his underwhelming Ashes tour included a match-winning hand at the MCG; and in Sri Lanka, he crashed 136 not out to clinch an ODI series win.
He had not fired at the World Cup, struggling to get going against spin with the field spread, but looked as though he was playing on a different surface to his team-mates in Pallekele. He became the first England batter to score a men's T20I hundred as captain and completed the set of centuries across formats; none of his team-mates made it to 30.
England's openers struggled again: Phil Salt played for swing which never arrived off Afridi's first ball and edged behind, while Jos Buttler's miserable form continued as he under-edged behind for just 2. But Brook was in pristine touch, hauling Mirza over square leg for six then taking 17 runs off Nawaz's first over, the last of the powerplay.
He used his feet brilliantly through the middle overs, skipping down to launch Shadab Khan back over his head for six before hauling him through the leg side for four, and was happy to see off the dangerous Tariq. He reached his hundred with another one-two punch off Afridi, and earned a handshake from the fast bowler when he was yorked by his next ball.
It will soon become clear whether Brook's promotion to No. 3 - the first time he has batted above No. 4 in his T20I career - will become a permanent shift, and he revealed that England coach Brendon McCullum had inspired the change. "That was all Baz," he said. "He came to me this morning and said, 'Look, we might change it up and put you up at No. 3 today.'"
Farhan or bust
Pakistan's underpowered innings owed much to Farhan, who remains the only one of their batters to have scored an individual half-century in this World Cup. He is the tournament's leading run-scorer with 283 in five innings, but Pakistan's next highest scorer is Shadab on just 111.
They lost early wickets after choosing to bat first, with Saim Ayub miscuing a pull off Jofra Archer and Salman Agha picking out Jamie Overton in the deep as Dawson bowled in the powerplay for only the second time in the tournament. But they badly lost their way through the middle, Farhan and Babar Azam adding 46 in 44 balls for the third wicket.
Farhan tried to resurrect Pakistan's innings after Overton's cross-seamer snuck under Babar's bottom edge, launching Will Jacks over midwicket for a 100-metre six. He looked to accelerate against Overton after reaching a 37-ball fifty, launching him down the ground for six then carving him for four, but was pinned on the boot by a surprise yorker as Pakistan stalled again.
Fakhar Zaman, recalled to the side for the Super Eight stage, swung a pair of sixes down the ground but was well caught by Dawson off Adil Rashid, who rolled through his repertoire to keep Pakistan's middle order guessing. And Dawson was miserly at the death, taking two wickets in two balls in the 18th over as Pakistan could only scrape up to 164.
England win ugly, again
England snuck through the group stages with three unconvincing wins over Associate opposition and defended an under-par total to beat Sri Lanka on Sunday. They were a long way short of their best in the field: Jacob Bethell twice allowed boundaries with misfields, Brook dropped a catch at extra cover, and Archer gave Pakistan a free hit when he forgot that he should have been inside the 30-yard circle.
Their batting line-up has not clicked either, with Buttler badly out of form, and only Brook was in any way convincing on Tuesday night. But they have reiterated throughout the tournament that there is no point peaking in the group stages of a World Cup, and are through to the knockout stages in the hope that their best is yet to come.
