ENGLAND LIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY

After a roller-coaster group stage, Buttler & Co qualify for Super 8s, but will have their task cut out from here

- GOMESH S

IT was about 3.15 PM at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua on Saturday. After almost three hours since the scheduled start of their final group game against Namibia, anxiety had crept into the England dressing room. Understandably so.

A lot was at stake for the defending champions. Not only did they need a win, they needed Australia to beat Scotland in St. Lucia later in the evening. Such was the dire situation in Antigua that Cricket Scotland had taken to X (formerly known as Twitter) with a sarcastic post about the clear weather in St. Lucia. After all, a washout in Antigua would have meant Scotland go through to Super 8s irrespective of their result against Australia.

But eventually, the skies paved the way in Antigua. The match that was supposed to start at 12.30 PM was scheduled to begin at 4 PM and the number of overs per side had been reduced to 11. While Namibia had nothing to lose, they had a point to prove. They wanted to finish off on a high, spoiling England's party along the way.