England have made the semi-finals of the 2026 T20 World Cup despite not once playing a perfect game yet. But do they need to play a perfect game to claim the title for the second time in four years?
No, says Will Jacks, England's best all-round player this World Cup, having won his fourth Player-of-the-Match award in the thrilling last-over win against New Zealand.
"Well, short answer is no," Jacks said. "We've won six out of seven games and we've qualified for a semi-final. At the end of the day no one really cares. We obviously want to play well in there, but we're not gutted that we haven't played the perfect game because we're winning. And that's T20 cricket, that's professional sport. It's also incredibly hard to do that.
"You're playing against a very strong side who have prepared as well as you, and they know what they're trying to do and they're also trying to play the perfect game. So the chances of that happening are very slim. What we've done well is, in the key moments, we've kept a calm and clear head and we've managed to negotiate those well."
Jacks has been firefighting for England throughout this World Cup, negotiating some of the difficult situations Harry Brook's team have faced every match in the tournament. On Friday, chasing 160 for victory, England found themselves once again in a spot of bother needing 43 from the final three overs when Rehan Ahmed joined Jacks. Clarity of communication combined with their courage allowed the pair to see England home easily in the end with three balls to spare.
Jacks, though, admitted he was "nervous" mainly after having seen Sri Lanka's batters succumb to New Zealand spinners while chasing a pretty similar target on the same pitch. "I knew that was a big task," Jacks said. "We've seen the Sri Lanka game two nights ago on this pitch and how well New Zealand were bowling, and I watched how our batters were finding it having bowled on it myself. I knew that was a lot of runs. So I knew we needed to do something special."
Jacks said the pressure had been released by Rehan, who charged Glenn Phillips on the second ball of the 18th over, lofting the offspinner for six. In all, 22 runs came in that Phillips over and it proved to be the point where the match turned in England's favour decisively.
"That ball that Rehan hit, a six on the second ball, that gave me energy as well. And I thought, right, we've got a chance here. And then obviously I finished the over 6, 4, 4, and, we were on. I think small moments like that [are] so important and not just the runs but the way it happens, hitting a big six and really showing the bowler that you're on here and we believe that we can win this is, is really crucial and from that moment I think the mindset changed."
Having topped their Super Eights group, England head to Mumbai where the second semi-final will be hosted. Their opponent (barring an unlikely set of results) will be the winner of the last match of the Super Eight between defending champions, India, and West Indies, who beat Brook's team in the group stage at Wankhede. Both Brook and Jacks said they were not concerned who their semis opponent would be as either way it would be a big match.
"It would be massive, yeah," Jacks said. "Everyone knows about India and the storyline that that brings. It could also be the West Indies and they've beaten us in Mumbai, so we know how tricky that's going to be. We'll be watching their game Sunday and we'll see the outcome. We'll be prepared and I think we'll go into it with optimism and excitement."
For Brook the familiarity with Wankhede, where England played two group matches including their World Cup opener against Nepal, where they survived a scare, was an advantage. "We're not bothered," Brooks said after the New Zealand win. "We've just got to go out there and whoever we're facing, they're going to be a tough opponent anyway.
"We've already played against West Indies at the Wankhede already, so a little bit of experience there. It's nice to go back to a ground that we've already played on as well. Both sides are very strong, very powerful teams and we've just got to go out there and try and do the little things well again. "