How England won the 2022 t20 World Cup in Australia

England secured their second t20 World Cup triumph with a five-wicket win against Pakistan in Melbourne. A player of the match performance from player of the tournament Sam Curran was ably supported by a typical big game all-round performance from Ben Stokes and a fine spell from Adil Rashid. 

It was not all completely plain-sailing in the Final, but in a reflection of the overall tournament performance, England did indeed come out the other side to run out comfortable winners, just like they had in the pre-tournament series in Pakistan.

England defeated Pakistan by five wickets in the 2022 t20 World Cup Final in Australia to win their second title [CREDIT - Philip Brown//Popperfoto via Getty Images]

An eventually routine opening day win against Afghanistan

The opening game for England saw a potentially tricky matchup against an ever-improving Afghanistan. Bowling first, Afghanistan were unable to get going at any point during the innings, struggling with the big square boundaries. The aforementioned Curran began his remarkable tournament with a brilliant 5-10, with Afghanistan losing their last six wickets for just 21 as they were bowled out for 112.

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In reply, it was slow going for England as they adapted to the pitch and conditions, along with some good bowling. While on target, the halfway stage came and England were only going along at around a run a ball, and when Stokes was removed at 65-3 shortly before the end of the 11th over, things were looking a little less straightforward. The Afghan spin kings of Mujeeb and Rashid Khan, along with captain Mohammad Nabi, kept things tight through the middle overs.

But due to a long batting lineup and such a low target, it was inevitable that England would get over the line eventually. Liam Livingstone's unbeaten 29 saw England home with five wickets and 11 balls to spare.

A rain-affected slip-up against Ireland to cast doubt on qualification chances

The first, and indeed only, defeat of England's triumphant campaign came via a shock loss to Ireland. Batting first, Ireland got off to a flyer in the powerplay through Paul Stirling, captain Andy Balbirnie and number three Lorcan Tucker. Having reached a towering 92-1 at the halfway stage, England did well to pull things back and bowl Ireland out for 157.

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However, despite the improved bowling performance and momentum, England wobbled during the powerplay and were 29-3 when Ben Stokes was dismissed in the sixth over. Dawid Malan played a solid hand for 35 but, with rain looming, England were behind the DLS rate. Despite Moeen Ali picking things up and manoeuvring England into a seemingly solid position for a win, the rain indeed arrived and England found themselves five runs short of the DLS target. 

A washout against the hosts and defending champions Australia

Following the shock defeat to Ireland and Australia's pummelling against New Zealand in the opener, both teams found themselves needing to win to improve their qualification chances. However, once again the weather prevailed and the game was abandoned without a ball being bowled. England had won the pre-tournament T20I series against Australia 2-0 and were looking comfortable in the third before rain caused a no-result.

A stunning return to form against a strong New Zealand side

That washout against Australia, along with the Ireland loss, meant every game was now a must-win for England. Coming up against New Zealand, who had looked the part and had beaten England in last year's semi-final, presented a tough challenge. Yet an impressive all-round performance produced a vital win.

An opening partnership that set up the innings through the first ten overs between Jos Buttler and Alex Hales provided the platform for the final ten. Hales fell for a well-played 52, before Buttler took over to storm to 73 off 47 balls, supported by a number of small cameos throughout the batting order.

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Chasing 180, New Zealand faltered to leave them needing 114 off the last ten overs. Though Glenn Phillips raced to 50 off 25 balls, his eventual dismissal effectively ended the Black Caps' chances. Curran again impressed, taking 2-26 off his four overs, while a solitary over from Moeen Ali to start the innings helped put pressure on the opening duo of the dangerous Finn Allen and the classy Devon Conway, the latter succumbing to the pressure and miscuing to Buttler for three off nine.

A comfortable yet nervy win to seal qualification against Sri Lanka

Comfortable yet nervy may sound like an oxymoron, but that is how it felt. Naturally, it was a tense game in the sense that England simply had to win to progress to the semi-finals. The powerplay saw a breezy start, with Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis scoring consistently. The latter fell with the score at 39 in four overs. After that, it was just Nissanka offering any sort of real resistance as he scored 67 off 45 balls out of an eventual 141-8. The bowling in the second half was tight and Sri Lanka could only score at a run a ball.

With things having looked slightly precarious after the powerplay, the eventual score saw a real opportunity to head through to the semi-finals. Indeed, Buttler and Hales again put on a strong opening partnership and when Buttler fell towards the start of the eighth over with the score on 75, the win not only looked inevitable but it looked like it would happen very quickly.

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That was, however, not the case. After Hales fell for 47 off 30 balls with just 60 needed in 64 balls, a string of England batsmen were removed for single digit scores as the rate and pressure slowly started to creep up. Stokes, though, as he often has and does, came to the fore. It was slow going but his unbeaten 42 off 36 balls was vital to see England home, with the nerves finally settled with three balls to go as Woakes cut a wide delivery away for four to seal a four-wicket win.

One of the most comprehensive semi-final victories to breeze past India

A tale of two powerplays saw a crushing and decisive win for England over a star-studded India team. Batting first, India limped to 38-1 at the end of the powerplay, with the 50 brought up after 7.5 overs. A big effort was required to post a respectable total in the final ten overs, with India 62-2 at the halfway point. Shortly afterwards, the impressive Rashid claimed the huge wicket of the in-form Suryakumar Yadav for 14.

Virat Kohli was joined by Hardik Pandya in a 61-run partnership for the fourth wicket, with Pandya launching a late assault to finish on 63 off just 33 balls as India managed to get to 168-6.

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While that might have looked at the very least mildly defendable, it proved to be anything but. The tone was set in the first over as Buttler vivaciously struck his T20 nemesis Bhuvneshwar Kumar for three boundaries. From that point on, Buttler and Hales mercilessly targeted the Indian bowlers, taking the powerplay for 63. 

The assault only grew worse for India, as the dynamic openers chased the remaining 106 in just ten overs to complete a crushing ten-wicket win. Hales largely led the way to finish unbeaten on 86 off just 47 balls, while Buttler caught up towards the end to seal the game, himself finishing 80 not out off 49.

Another overall strong performance sprinkled with anxiety-inducing spells in the Final against Pakistan

England's strong suit was strongly believed to be their deep and dangerous batting lineup, but the bowling department once again came to the fore in the Final against Pakistan. Again, the prolific opening duo of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam faltered, with the former dismissed for 15 off 14 balls. Babar himself struggled for fluency and his dismissal, a miscued shot that limped back to Rashid, summed up his and Pakistan's innings.

Shan Masood top scored with 38 off 28 balls, with brief support from Shadab Khan (20 off 14), but no other Pakistan batsman could get going. This was primarily due to superb bowling from England, particualrly Rashid thorugh the middle overs (2-22 off 4) and Curran in the powerplay and at the death (3-12 off 4). Indeed, that Babar wicket was the first delivery of what turned out to be a stunning wicket maiden from Rashid in the 12th at a time where Pakistan were desperately looking to kick on. In the end, they could only post 137-8.

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With a modest score to chase, albeit against arguably the best bowling attack in the tournament, England got off to a mixed start. Hales fell early to a classic Shaheen Shah Afridi first over special, before Phil Salt's brief stay was halted by Haris Rauf midway through the fourth over with the score at 32-2. Tensions started to rise 12 balls later when Rauf dismissed captain Buttler for 26 with a stunning delivery that was taken behind by Rizwan.

Harry Brook joined Stokes and the pair set about building a foundation for the chase and reached 77-3 at the halfway stage needing just 61 off 60 balls to win. It would prove to be far from straightforward, though. Shadab Khan was tidy through his four overs of leg spin (1-20), while Naseem Shah's final two overs saw an incredible number of high-quality deliveries. In the 24 balls that he bowled, Naseem sent down 16 dot balls, a number of which flew past the outside edge of Stokes' bat.

The turning point came with the dismissal of Brook for 20 off 23 balls. The 23-year-old struck a Shadab delivery sweetly but did not get the desired connection as Shaheen swooped in from long-off to take an ultimately tricky catch. In doing so, though, the fast bowler seemed to tweak his knee.

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With the required run rate all of a sudden heading towards nine an over, Shaheen was brought back to bowl one of the two overs he had remaining. His first delivery of his third over proved to be his last as it was made clear he would be unable to continue. Iftikhar Ahmed, the off-spinner, was chosen to see out the remaining five balls in what was ideally a good matchup to the two left-handers at the crease in Stokes and Moeen.

His five balls, however, went for 13 as Stokes struck four then six to finish the over with a timely flourish. Straight after, Moeen struck Mohammad Wasim's first two balls for four to see the equation go from 38 off 26 balls to just 20 off 22. From that point on, the game was England's. Despite Moeen getting cleaned up by Rauf, the ever-reliable Stokes knocked the winning run to seal a five-wicket win with an over to spare.

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Things could have worked out very differently had Shaheen been able to continue, but the luck in that sense was on England's side but the ultimately commanding position they got themselves into was anything but lucky.