England vs Italy Highlights, T20 World Cup 2026: England beat Italy by 24 runs to qualify for Super 8s

JJ Smuts to Phil Salt, Short again, outside off. PS rocks back and pulls it straight to deep mid-wicket for another single. 9 from the opening over.

JJ Smuts to Jos Buttler, Smuts senses that Buttler will charge at him and the latter does. So it is a missile, fired at the pads, at a shorter length. Buttler works it through mid-wicket for one.

JJ Smuts to Phil Salt, Fuller, around off, Phil goes back and works it through mid-wicket for one.

JJ Smuts to Jos Buttler, A bit more flight, 87.9 kph, but shorter again, Jos Buttler nudges it through square leg for a single to get off the mark. Unlike Salt, Buttler prefers to ease himself in first.

JJ Smuts to Phil Salt, Short again, outside off, Salt rocks back and pulls it through mid-wicket, where the fielder slides across to his left near the ropes, to stop the ball. A single taken.

JJ Smuts to Phil Salt, FOUR! Runs straightaway! JJ lands it around off, on a good length, Phil Salt stays put and blasts it down the ground, beating the bowler to his left, and mid off to his right for a boundary. England and Salt are off the mark in style.

Time for action - The national anthems have been sung and we are ready for the game to begin. The Italian side gets into a huddle and now disperses, after a while. Out walk the two English openers - Phil Salt and Jos Buttler. It will be the spin of JJ Smuts to start proceedings. Salt to face. Here we go!

National anthems - The match officials and the two teams head out to the middle, for the national anthems of both nations. It will be Italy's first, followed by that of England's.

Afghanistan stay alive - For now. They have gone past the total of 160 posted by United Arab Emirates and as per the scorecard, with 5 wickets and 4 balls remaining, it appears as if it was a comfortable win. But those who viewed that match will agree that the Afghans did make matters difficult for themselves in a pretty modest chase and eventually, it needed a calm head of Azmatullah Omarzai, whose unbeaten 40 turned out to be pivotal. Earlier, it was Omarzai's 4-fer who kept the UAE to 160/9 as well. With this win, Afghanistan move to third spot, but they will now need New Zealand to underperform in their final match.

PITCH REPORT - Nick Knight and Eoin Morgan are beside the pitch. Knight begins by informing that it is a decent hit down the ground, measuring 75 meters. About the square dimensions, Nick says there is a bit of a bias with 62 meters and 67 meters. On comes the 2019 ODI World Cup skipper of England, Eoin Morgan. Remember, he has played for KKR here in the IPL. Inspects the deck and says that it is a good surface. Morgan highlights that Scotland were on course for a score of 180-plus in the previous game. Also details that the pitch has held together pretty nicely. Singles out Tom Banton as the most impactful batter in the previous game., detailing that he targeted the boundaries down the ground and that was a pretty effective approach. Nick Knight now asks Morgs regarding the sweeps and slogs, to which, Eoin is of the opinion that due to the extra bit of bounce on offer here, whether hitting aerially or along the ground, the margin for error is very small with that approach.

We were going to bowl anyway - The captain of Italy, HARRY MANENTI, says that he was going to bowl anyway. Hence, feels that this sort of works nicely. Goes onto add that he and the management were not sure what to do had he won the toss, so is eventually happy that he does not have to decide. On the euphoria post the Nepal win, Manenti says that the vibe's been excellent. Adds that Italy have enjoyed a nice few days after the win, and have now settled down. Further says that coming off a win gives confidence and the players are raring to go for this clash. On meeting the hard-hitting England, Harry says that his own side is really confident at the moment. Adds that they came into the tournament pretty confident but didn't quite hit the strides the way they wanted to. However, he says that they have developed some rhythm as the games have gone by. On the team news, the skipper informs that Italy too, are going in with an unchanged team from their last match. On news regarding original skipper Wayne Madsen's fitness, HM replies that he is still not 100 percent. Keeps his fingers crossed and hopes that Madsen will be fit for their last league clash against West Indies.

Take it to the opposition - The skipper of England, HARRY BROOK, on being asked to give the reason for batting first, replies that there isn't much to look into the venue stats wise, so he fancies batting first. On his message to his team, Brook wants his side to be fearless with the bat, take it to the opposition and not think about the result. On the team changes, Harry informs that England are going in with the same team from their last match. On being asked about England's progress so far, the captain honestly says that everybody knows that England haven't played their best cricket. Accepts that they have scraped through a couple of games, but hopes to put on a much better show in this contest.

Italy (UNCHANGED Playing XI) - Justin Mosca, Anthony Mosca, JJ Smuts, Harry Manenti (C), Marcus Campopiano, Benjamin Manenti, Grant Stewart, Gian-Piero Meade (WK), Jaspreet Singh, Crishan Kalugamage and Ali Hasan.

England (UNCHANGED Playing XI) - Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (WK), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (C), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Liam Dawson and Adil Rashid.