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On Saturday, June 8, England suffered a 36-run defeat against Australia in the Group B match of the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. With no wins in the first two matches of the T20 World Cup, England are in fourth place in a five-team group, with their hopes of qualifying through to the Super 8 stage hanging by a thread.
In the Saturday afternoon clash against Australia, the England cricket team bowled first, but they conceded 74 runs in the powerplay stage, finding themselves on the backfoot for the rest of their bowling innings. The key contributions from all the batters in the Australian lineup meant that they posted an above par total of 201/7 on the board.
The run chase for England started well with Jos Buttler and Phil Salt putting the Australian bowlers to the sword in the powerplay stage, but Adam Zampa picked up their wickets in quick succession to bring his team back into it. It led to the rest of the Australian bowlers stepping-up big time, ensuring that England could only get up to 165/6.
With that, England lost their second match of the T20 World Cup against Australia after a no-result in their first match versus Scotland due to rain. The defending champions have only one point in the Group B standings with a NRR of (-1.800), which puts them behind the likes of Australia, Scotland, and Namibia.
To make the Super 8 stage from this position, England must win their final two matches of the group stage against Oman and Namibia at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua first and foremost. After that, they will need either Australia or Oman to defeat Scotland in Group B, which will ensure their qualification through to the next round of the T20 World Cup 2024.
Although if England end up losing one of their remaining group stage matches in the ongoing ICC tournament, then their qualification hopes will be as good as over. In case the defending champions lose to both Oman and Namibia, they will be out of the T20 World Cup 2024 regardless of all the other results in the Group B.
