Hamed Chapman
England have become double white ball cricket champions by defeating Pakistan by 5 wickets in a pulsating final in Melbourne to win the Men’s T20 World Cup on November 13.
Chasing 138 in front of a loud and excitable Pakistan-supporting crowd, England fell to 45-3 and 84-4 amid electric fast bowling.
But, under intense pressure, test match captain wrote himself further into the folklore of English cricket by finishing on 52 not out. Stokes capitalised on an injury to Pakistan left-armer Shaheen Afridi to take England to victory with six balls to spare.
He was there at the end, as he was in the 2019 50-over World Cup final victory against New Zealand, as the current white-ball side provided another of English cricket’s greatest wins.
The win was thanks in large part to a superb bowling performance from Sam Curran, named player of the tournament, and Adil Rashid, meaning England became the first team to hold the men’s 20 and 50-over world titles.
Pakistan, which currently have the best pace attack bowlers in the world, had been restricted in their innings with their opening pair of captain Babar Azam, who eventually reached 32 and Mohammad Rizwan, out for 15, surprisingly cagey early on. Shan Masood was their highest scorer with 38, but he did not prove enough, losing seven wickets for just 53 runs.
Despite losing their first two matches in the T20 World Cup, Pakistan bounced back to reach the final. England, the original favourites, also did not play well in the series, but managed to qualify and knocked out India in the semi-finals.
