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For all their faults and frailties, their fluffs and fumbles, England are also the first team to secure a place in the World Cup semi-finals, their spot secured by victory over Pakistan and by the sensational Harry Brook century that drove them towards it.
After coming in just one ball into England’s innings and watching the rest of England’s top five fluff their lines, England’s captain took centre stage and transformed a crisis into what, for all that a couple of late wickets got the nerves jangling, became something approaching a cruise.
Brook fell to the last ball of the 17th over, the first after he had completed his century off his 50th delivery. Several Pakistan players ran towards him to shake his hand as he left the field, and soon they were shaking hands again: having come to the crease before England had even taken a nibble into their target of 165, Brook departed with them needing 10 off 18.
Though Will Jacks and Jamie Overton both fell in the penultimate over to give Pakistan the faintest sniff of renewed hope, they got there with five balls remaining to win by two wickets.
Before returning to claim Brook as his fourth victim with his final ball of the game, Shaheen Shah Afridi – considered by many a fading force at the age of 25, dropped after conceding 31 in two overs against India, and reclaiming a place in the side only because Faheem Ashraf was not fit enough to keep his own – had ripped through the rest of England’s top order in the powerplay.
Again their openers misfired, both Phil Salt and Jos Buttler edging into the gloves of Usman Khan having made a combined contribution of two runs. Salt swung at the first ball of the innings and caught it with his outside edge, Buttler lasted into the third over before feathering it behind.
Buttler is in truly dreadful form, averaging 10.33 in six innings at this tournament and gradually getting worse. The dynamic of England’s opening partnership is that Salt goes hard at the start while Buttler plays himself into the game, but he has only faced 25 balls and scored 15 runs in his last four innings and is failing by any metric.
For the first time in his international T20 career, Brook came in at No 3. With England’s former captain misfiring it was time for his replacement to step up, further motivation provided by his having dropped a straightforward catch at mid-off a little earlier. That was one of several fumbles in the field by England – something in the air, perhaps, with Pakistan later to be guilty of a few of their own, including an unforgivably clumsy drop to give Jacob Bethell a reprieve he proceeded to make the least of. On this occasion Shadab Khan scored an additional and rapid 19 after Brook’s fumble, each run adding fuel to Brook’s fire.
His was a magnificent innings, featuring 14 boundaries, the best of them perhaps the ludicrous back-foot straight drive for six off Mohammad Nawaz. Though Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan, the tournament’s leading scorer, had earlier hit a 45-ball 63 – an excellent audition for any watching members of the Hundred hierarchy – Brook’s was on a different level. Having repeatedly spoken of his frustration at England’s tentative batting, here he gave the most compelling demonstration of leadership by example.
But for the occasional misfields England might have had a more straightforward chase, but their bowling was largely excellent. Jofra Archer took an early wicket once again, Saim Ayub looping a top-edged pull to deep backward square leg off the first ball of the seamer’s second over.
But an opening spell of great ferocity, with few deliveries dipping under the 90mph mark, was relatively unrewarded, Pakistan getting a few boundaries with flukes and edges, before ending with a couple of classy ones from Babar Azam.
But after Archer was removed from the attack, with Pakistan’s Salman Ali Agha by then also dismissed after a poorly controlled hoik to long-off off Liam Dawson, the runs for a while dried up. Babar, as he does, gobbled up four overs, with no boundaries but that brace off Archer, before mistiming a heave against Jamie Overton and losing the bail off his off-stump having scored 25 off 24.
Through all this Farhan remained, and he looked to be truly kicking into gear when he hit Overton over long-on for six and the next ball through cover for four with ominous power, taking his team to 122 to three. Three overs later it was 149 for eight, Overton provoking a collapse by arrowing a yorker towards leg stump.
