ANTIGUA: A combined batting and bowling effort led England to a comfortable 41-run victory over Namibia in a must-win ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 clash here at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Thursday.

Set to chase 126 as per the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, Namibia could manage 84/3 in the allotted 10 overs.

Namibia got off to a shaky start to the daunting total as their openers Nikolaas Davin Michael van Lingen found it hard to score freely against a dominant England bowling attack.

The pair added 44 runs in six overs before Davin decided to retire out after scoring 18 off 16.

David Wiese was promoted to No.3 to accelerate the flow of runs.

The all-rounder took on the attack to the England bowlers with clean hitting. He was supported by Lingen as the pair brought up 36 runs in just three overs before the latter perished.

Michael van Lingen top-scored for Namibia with a cautious 33 off 29 deliveries, hitting one boundary and three sixes.

But, Wiese, who perished on the fourth delivery of the final over was the pick of the batters for Namibia for his blistering 27 off 12 deliveries.

For England, Chris Jordan and Jofra Archer claimed one wicket apiece.

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Put into bat first in a crucial match that was eventually reduced to 10-over a side, England registered a massive total on the board, courtesy of a third-wicket partnership between Jonny Bairstow and Brook.

The defending champions, however, had a contrasting start to their innings as they lost both their openers Jos Buttler (0) and Phil Salt (11) inside 2.1 overs with just 13 runs on the board.

Following the early hiccup, Bairstow launched an astounding counterattack by taking Namibia bowlers to the cleaners in a one-sided 56-run partnership with Brook.

Bernard Scholtz provided a much-needed breakthrough to Namibia on the first delivery of the eighth over when he got rid of Bairstow, who scored a quickfire 31 off 18 deliveries with the help of three fours and two sixes.

Harry Brook then switched gears after Bairstow’s dismissal and further bolstered England’s total at the backend. He was supported by Moeen Ali (16) and Liam Livingstone (13), who added quick runs with handy cameos.

Brook top-scored for England with an unbeaten 47 off just 20 deliveries, laced up with six boundaries including two sixes.

For Namibia, Ruben Trumpelmann bagged two wickets while David Wiese and Scholtz could pick up one wicket each.

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