The situation for England became clear at around 10.15pm on Friday night in Sydney, as 800 miles to the west in Adelaide Afghanistan scored their runs that guaranteed Australia’s net run rate could not become an extra hurdle. So England can throw away their calculators and focus on the clearest possible equation: beat Sri Lanka by any margin on Saturday and they will be in the semi-finals.
The players have all been issued with USB sticks which allow them to watch Sky’s coverage of the tournament in their hotel rooms, and many of them have been in frequent use. Chris Woakes said there were “plenty of fist pumps” during Lorcan Tucker’s brilliant innings for Ireland against the Australians in Brisbane on Halloween, and there would have been so many during Rashid Khan’s 23-ball 48 – a contribution that meant Australia’s winning margin in the end was only four – that he must have been in danger of sustaining another shoulder injury.
