Cometh the moment cometh the man.
Ben Stokes has again pulled England out of the fire to officially end Australia’s hopes of defending their T20 crown despite a valiant fight from Sri Lanka at the SCG.
The Asian Cup champions were well under par after a collapse saw them hobble to 141 in the first innings, but their world-class spin attack looked right at home on the dry, worn SCG wicket.
The English were cruising towards a semi-final birth at 0-75, with openers Jos Buttler (28) and Alex Hales (47) again bossing the Power Play.
But Wanindu Hasaranga (2-23) wanted one last say on the tournament.
He removed both openers, opening the door to England’s vulnerable middle order again struggled.
Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali and Sam Curran were all dismissed for less than seven leaving England teetering on the edge of the biggest choke in T20 World Cup history.
But again, Stokes took the reigns, manipulating the field and seeing off the spin as he made an unbeaten 42 to see his side home with a ball to spare.
With Australia’s team sitting back in Adelaide needing a Sri Lankan victory, Pathum Nissanka hit 67 off 45 but had little support in his team’s 8-141.
The opener made his intent clear in a big start to the powerplay, hitting Stokes for six over backward square leg from the second ball of the match.
He struck five sixes, regularly clipping the ball off middle and leg stump into the crowd and playing a fine uppercut for six off Mark Wood.
But when he was caught trying to take on Adil Rashid, Sri Lanka struggled to find any momentum as they lost 5-25 in the final five overs.
A win for England will be enough for them to qualify for the semi-finals ahead of Australia, ending the defending champions’ tournament.
To do so, England will need to become the first team to win chasing at the SCG this tournament.
Adding to the challenge will be a pitch that offered plenty of assistance to the spinners after being used for the third match in eight days.
That was evident in Sri Lanka’s innings, as England’s three spinners went for 1-37 off their seven overs, with Rashid claiming 1-16 from his four-over spell.
England could also be without Dawid Malan in their innings after he limped from the field with an apparent groin injury in the 15th over.
