Ben Stokes delivered again as England won the T20 World Cup (Picture: Getty)
England are the new T20 World Cup champions after they beat Pakistan in a tense final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Jos Buttler’s side were brilliant with the ball to restrict Pakistan to 137-8, Sam Curran taking 3-12 and Adil Rashid with 2-22.
England slipped to 85-4 and wobbled in the middle overs but Ben Stokes held his nerve to take his side to victory with six balls remaining.
Stokes, who was the hero in the 2019 World Cup final, finished 52 not out as England secured a five-wicket win to become T20 champions for the second time.
England become the first team to hold both the T20 and 50-over trophies, while Pakistan fall narrowly short of a second T20 title.
The nerves were palpable in the early stages as Ben Stokes started proceedings with a no-ball and a wide, while Mohammed Rizwan was relieved to see a run-out attempt miss the mark.
Two uneventful overs followed before Rizwan deposited Chris Woakes into the stands for the first maximum of the match.
England beat Pakistan to win their second T20 World Cup title (Picture: Getty)
England made their first breakthrough in the fifth over as the impressive Sam Curran forced Rizwan to play on, Pakistan reaching 39-1 at the end of the powerplay.
Adil Rashid has found form at the right time in Australia and made an instant impact here, dismissing Muhammad Haris with the first ball of his spell.
Pakistan began to use the massive Melbourne outfield to scamper twos but they were stuttering on 68-2 at the halfway stage.
The next over threatened to change the momentum as Liam Livingstone’s first set went for 16, but Rashid pulled it back with a fantastic wicket maiden as Pakistan captain Babar Azam departed.
When Stokes nicked off Iftikhar Ahmed in the next over, England were well on top and Pakistan glad to see the back of Rashid, who finished a superb spell with figures of 2-22.
Pakistan tried to fightback through Shan Masood and Shadab Khan, the former rotating the strike well before he departed for 38 off 28, Curran taking another big wicket.
The innings began to fall apart as Shadab holed out and Curran picked up his third of the evening – going for just 12 from his four overs – as Mohammad Nawaz suffered the same fate.
England were brilliant at the death, restricting Pakistan to just 19 from the final four overs as they stumbled to 137-8.
The powerplay was always going to have a big say on the outcome of the match and Shaheen Afridi knocked over Alex Hales with the final ball of the first over.
Jos Buttler looked in fine form, though, clipping and driving boundaries as England made a quick start.
Pakistan pegged the 2010 champions back by dismissing Phil Salt and were celebrating the huge scalp of Jos Buttler in the sixth over, Haris Rauf doing the damage.
England were just about in front at the end of the powerplay as they moved to 49-3, and the experienced Stokes and 23-year-old Harry Brook consolidated to take the equation to 61 from 60 at the halfway stage.
Pakistan began to fightback after drinks, with the next three overs going for just 10 runs and Harry Brook falling for an edgy 20 off 23.
England’s struggles continued as the run-rate climbed, although a rare boundary from Stokes took the equation to 41 from 30 balls.
Afridi injured his knee while completing the catch to dismiss Brook and had to hobble off during his final over, his tournament coming to a crushing end.
Iftikhar completed Afridi’s over and Stokes took full advantage, hitting the part-time spinner for consecutive boundaries, including England’s first maximum of the match.
Moeen Ali hit successive fours at the start of the next over as England took control of the chase.
The flurry of boundaries deflated Pakistan and England’s victory was confirmed off the final ball of the 19th over, Stokes almost inevitably hitting the winning runs.
More to follow…
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England are champions in T20 and ODI cricket.
