We set the tone up front there with the ball: Adil Rashid

England are well and truly back in the race for the Super 8s of the 2024 T20 World Cup. The defending champions bundled out Oman for just 47 runs and then hunted down the target in 3.1 overs, their NRR (+3.081) above Scotland’s +2.164. All they have to do now is beat Namibia and expect Scotland to lose to Australia.

“Very pleased. We spoke about coming to this game. I thought we needed a win and a comprehensive one. We set the tone up front there with the ball. I thought seamers - Joff, Woody, top orders set the tone there perfectly. But no, I was very happy for us to get that win, how we did,” said Adil Rashid, who was named Player of the Match for his 4/11 in Antigua on June 13 (Thursday).

“First and foremost, we thought we have to win the game. We have to set ourselves get into a position to think about that. We didn't really set ourselves from the beginning to do that. We won the toss, we got the wickets and that really set the tone for that, to restrict them to 48 but then we went out to bat. If we were just going to be positive, we knew we'd score the goals within four or five overs which we did.”

Once the job was done in the first innings, Rashid said the message to the batters was to be positive and play the way they always do. “We had to still be positive and play that if you're going to a position to do that, we knew we had to take it on - to get the runs within the first within five and a half overs. We also knew that we can't just go out there and be slow. Just play the way you do and that's what happened we played the way and things just started unfolding.

“We take each day as it comes, like I say it's another win. It's just a win, we know that we take it, we're doing a game at a time, obviously we're happy with the win and how we won today. It's what we needed today as well, is to bowl them out cheaply and knock them off very quickly. But we also know it's just a win. We've got another game in a couple of days. We've got to do the same job there as well. And then each day, each game, take it a step at a time.”

Talking about his own performance with the ball, the legspinner said: “It's always nice to get wickets three-four whether it's against Oman or Australia or India it's always nice to get them wickets. I thought to myself, I felt okay, I felt alright there, just get a few wickets, spin the ball, googly's, few leggies, whatever it is, mix it up. But the most pleasing thing was as a bowling unit, how we bowled with the seamers, each seamer, Toppers, Joff, Woody, myself, we all like I say bowled in really good partnerships as well.”

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