Cricket
Harry Brook hits out as England turn the screw on Scotland in battle for Super Eight place
Hello and welcome to Telegraph Sport’s live, over-by-over coverage of England v Namibia in Antigua. If all goes to plan, England’s place in the Super 8s will be confirmed at around 5am tomorrow morning. But that depends on three things.
- The weather in Antigua and St Lucia
- England beating Namibia tonight
- Australia beating Scotland in the early hours.
At least we don’t have to worry about net run-rate. England’s high-speed victory over Oman took care of that, so now it’s just about whether they can join Scotland on five points. There’s no guarantee of that, mainly because it is pouring down in Antigua as I type. The forecast is better for the rest of the day, but it’s a layer of anxiety that England could do without.
“We have got to show a little bit more and then fingers crossed for Australia,” said Mark Wood. “Then when you are through to that next stage every team can go on from there. I’m absolutely confident they’ll play the game their hardest, that’s the Australian way. They’ll play hard and fair and try to get the win.”
Wood was reluctant to criticise Josh Hazlewood for suggesting that Australia could engineer England’s exit. “I think I saw it more as a respect thing if I’m honest,” he said. “He was saying England have done well against Australia in the recent past and he thinks we’re a big threat. I had no problem with it. It’s all part of England versus Australia.”
For now, England versus Namibia is our concern. The match is scheduled to start at 6pm BST, 1pm in Antigua.