The next 48 hours are a bit of a logistical head scratcher for England but the task at hand back in familiar Barbados on Sunday is straightforward. They meet USA, the co-hosts and associates who pilfered Pakistan’s intended spot in the Super Eights and, according to Harry Brook, they are hoping to “give them a good battering”.
This may read like trash talk before a big fight in Las Vegas but Brook looked like he had just stepped out of a boxing ring when he said it. It followed Friday’s tense seven-run loss to South Africa in the sweltering daytime heat of Saint Lucia, with Brook sat in the sweaty tent, adrenaline still flowing from his near-miss in the run chase, and offering up some good old Yorkshire plain-speak.
