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Test Match Special

Brook century blasts England into semi-finals

24 Feb 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What was the significance of Harry Brook's century for England?

0.031 - 3.537 Daniel Norcross

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6.662 - 8.605 Aatif Nawaz

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9.165 - 10.868 Daniel Norcross

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41.057 - 57.932 Unknown

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60.038 - 86.044 Daniel Norcross

You're listening to the TMS Podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Salman Mirza comes in around the wicket to Archer, moves across his stumps, pulls it out towards deep mid-wicket. It's running away towards the boundary. It will get there. Geoffrey Archer has struck the boundary that has taken England into the semifinals of the Men's T20 World Cup. It has not been without some tension and some drama.

86.705 - 109.03 Daniel Norcross

England win the game by two wickets. I, Daniel Norcross, have alongside World Cup winner Alex Hartley as we look back on a quite extraordinary game of cricket at the Pala Kelly International Stadium in Kandy, where England have won against Pakistan by two wickets with five balls to spare, and in so doing,

Chapter 2: How did England's performance evolve throughout the match?

362.193 - 365.697 Daniel Norcross

They have been for many years. And yeah, like I said, it's just nice to get over the line.

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365.998 - 379.114 Unknown

Such a wonderful all-round performance for everyone. Some great batting with you and Will Jacks at the back end as well. Confidence seems to be building in the English side. As you said, getting better and better in a more cohesive unit every time. Do you feel like you're in the right place now heading into the semis?

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379.145 - 392.597 Daniel Norcross

Yeah, there's obviously areas that we still want to improve on. You can never quite get perfection, but we're always striving for it. Like I said, we'll look towards the New Zealand game now and our mind is completely on that.

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392.797 - 398.606 Unknown

a World Cup 100 as well, what a special moment. Any emotions going through your head or are you just focused on getting the job done?

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398.987 - 408.942 Daniel Norcross

I was just happy that we got the job done to be honest. We were in a tricky situation at the start and then a couple of partnerships there was nice and like I said, just nice to get over the line.

409.062 - 412.628 Unknown

Well congratulations, a beautifully batted and a really great win. Thank you.

413.857 - 431.2 Daniel Norcross

That was a very delighted Harry Brook. I mean, there's a lot to take in there and we will be doing that over the next 15 to 20 minutes or so. But let's get back to the start of the game because England, they changed things up. There was no Will Jackson in the power play this time. They assessed the conditions a bit different. The pitch was a bit different.

431.22 - 453.283 Daniel Norcross

They opened with Archer, yes, who was bowling fire. I mean, touching 92, 93. At the other end, Jamie Overton was bowling 90 miles an hour as well. He opened the bowling. And it was a sort of different look to the way England were going to play. They adapted to the conditions well, I thought. And 27 for 2, they got themselves a good start. And actually, they kept a lid on stuff.

453.303 - 470.995 Daniel Norcross

Well, Baba Azam was out there with Saebzadeh Farhan. who, again, looks different class from everybody else with the Pakistan team. I mean, Barba got 25 off 24. And when he was out, 73 for three off the one ball shy of 11 overs, it just looked like they hadn't got going. You know, we were sort of talking 150.

Chapter 3: What challenges did Pakistan face during their innings?

666.274 - 679.683 Daniel Norcross

Adil Rashid, four overs, one for 31. Again, I don't think those figures flattered him. There was a period when he had Garzaman. in just all sorts of horrible strife, wouldn't they? He pulled an over at him and he was just all over the place.

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679.703 - 699.348 Alex Hartley

Oh, I mean, Joffre Archer's figures, they should have taken 10 runs, 15 runs off that easily. He bowled absolute heat today, absolute rockets. He had Sayam Ayub going, hang on a minute, this seems a little bit quick. I don't really want to be facing this before he had him hooking a ball that was clearly too quick for him. caught a deep square. Yeah, he was fantastic today.

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699.709 - 706.799 Alex Hartley

You know, a couple of missed fields here and there and the ball went for four. But he had that bit between his teeth today, Geoffrey, didn't he?

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706.819 - 726.529 Daniel Norcross

He really did. I mean, it was consistent pace. He barely really tried much in the way of a changeup. He did one back-of-the-hand slower ball that got walloped for four. He mostly relied on his searing pace. So, with that collapse... Pakistan could only muster 164, which, as you say, Alex, felt par.

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726.569 - 745.943 Daniel Norcross

But it felt like a lot more than par early on in England's reply, because for a start, they lost a wicket off the very first ball. Shaheen Sharifridi brought back into the team after he wasn't selected for the washout the other day. He's had a pretty dismal tournament. But at one stage, he had three for 13. I mean, what a crazy game cricket can be.

746.092 - 761.419 Alex Hartley

I know, it was a weird and wonderful time for Shaheen, really, wasn't it? Because actually, at the start of the day, you think, does he deserve to play back? He's one of the world's best, and on his day, he can win you games of cricket. And he bowled really nicely today. His last over was a little bit expensive. It went for 14 runs.

761.439 - 763.022 Daniel Norcross

Well, it was Harry Brook that did it, wasn't it?

763.042 - 767.83 Alex Hartley

Exactly, and it was Harry Brook with some extraordinary shots. So you almost think, oh, OK, you can...

767.81 - 794.256 Alex Hartley

kind of let him off and yeah he bowled nicely and Pakistan were in the game all the way through and even when Harry Brook was going you sort of felt if one of Harry Brook or Will Jacks gets out then it's not easy out there you know there's one man on this surface that's made it look easy today and it's Harry Brook who you know we saw it when Australia played with Mitch Marsh and Travis Head totally different surface to anyone else they just couldn't break that partnership early enough

Chapter 4: How did England's bowling impact Pakistan's batting?

974.471 - 980.657 Unknown

It can anything happen. But yeah, there was always hope. If there is a one-person chance, I will and my team will always hope.

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980.637 - 982.419 Daniel Norcross

Thanks for your time, good luck in the last game.

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982.459 - 982.979 Unknown

Thank you very much.

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984.881 - 1007.202 Daniel Norcross

Harry Brooke, for the second time tonight, is coming up. Congratulations, a semi-final is confirmed for you. Yeah, that's very nice. We've come here to do that job and thankfully we've got over the line. Let's talk about what clearly was the key decision to move yourself up to number three. First of all, when was that decision made and by whom?

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1007.182 - 1022.645 Daniel Norcross

This morning by Baz, he was the mastermind behind it. It could have not come off, but thankfully tonight it has. What was the reasons behind it? You must have chatted with him and he must have explained why he wanted you to go up the order. Yeah, we wanted to try and maximise the power play a little bit more.

1023.927 - 1040.499 Daniel Norcross

Everybody knows that I like to try and take the game on and I was going to do that from ball one. Like I said, thankfully it came off and I managed to get us a decent start. You said it was Brendan's decision. Had he not made that decision, was it in the back of your mind in any case about moving up the order?

1040.519 - 1058.016 Daniel Norcross

Yeah, I'd been thinking about it for a while and it's something I want to do in my career moving forward anyway, not just for England. In franchise cricket, I want to get up there and try and face as many balls as possible. And did it... Also play into the consideration that it was against Pakistan today. You've got an outstanding record actually across formats against this team.

1058.477 - 1073.397 Daniel Norcross

Yeah, Baz said that this morning. He said, look, well, what do you think about going number three? Pakistan's your team. And I was just like, yeah, let's do it. Halfway mark, 164. It wasn't a pitch perfect fielding performance from you, was it? No, we struggled in the field, unfortunately.

1073.417 - 1093.648 Daniel Norcross

Obviously, the atmosphere wasn't as good as what we'd played against Sri Lanka, and that was the main chat before we went out there. Beth went to the group, he said, look, lads, the atmosphere's no good tonight, let's try and keep the intensity up and make sure our fielding's on point. Unfortunately, he misfielded a couple, but that was something we really tried to do.

Chapter 5: What strategies did England employ to secure their win?

1336.11 - 1351.463 Daniel Norcross

Had he gone, we saw what happened after he was out. It could have been worse than it was. It suddenly became very nervy towards the very back end. England sort of limping over the line with five balls to spare. But did you have it on your bingo card?

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1351.503 - 1360.913 Daniel Norcross

I mean, when you're sort of like sixth bowler and batting at number seven to end up being probably the most consistent performer for England throughout.

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1361.093 - 1378.375 Alex Hartley

Look, I didn't have Will Jacks down as being the player of the tournament, but he's one of those players that, you know, can step up. When needed, he's got the second highest strike rate of the competition for somebody who's scored over 100 runs. He's been brilliant with bat and with ball. It's with the ball that surprised me.

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1378.576 - 1385.766 Alex Hartley

We've all seen him bowl over the last year or so, but I guess he's adapted really well, which has been impressive.

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1386.587 - 1394.078 Daniel Norcross

Although today, England's bowler of the day was the 35-year-old Liam Dawson, and I've got the opportunity to have a chat with him at close of play.

1394.665 - 1399.871 Liam Dawson

Liam, well done on getting over the line. It seemed like it was a little bit nervy towards the end. Yeah, for sure.

1400.271 - 1407.96 Daniel Norcross

Obviously going into that last couple of overs thinking we'll win it pretty easily. But yeah, we got over the line again. But what a knock from Harry Brook. Absolutely phenomenal.

1408.681 - 1414.287 Liam Dawson

You must be pleased with your own efforts as well with the ball. It seemed to grip nicely, turn nicely for you. Yeah, it was nice.

1414.747 - 1423.457 Daniel Norcross

I think the pitch will dictate what you had to do a little bit. It's probably a better wicket than what we've had previously here. But yeah, to chase that score in a big game for us was brilliant.

Chapter 6: How did Harry Brook's promotion in the batting order affect the game?

1635.893 - 1651.543 Liam Dawson

They actually managed to accelerate reasonably well. A couple of players got out trying to go big towards the end, but that's going to happen because you're trying to play high-risk cricket to try and get yourself a few extra runs. I think 164... wasn't a bad score on this pitch. Even Liam Dawson alluded to that in his interview.

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1651.624 - 1654.95 Daniel Norcross

At the halfway mark, you said. 55-45 in Pakistan's favour.

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1654.97 - 1672.821 Liam Dawson

The win predictor was in Pakistan's favour. 57%, in fact, of 43. So it was a good total on this pitch, I think. There were moments where... Maybe they took their foot off the throttle a little bit. They started so well in that power play. Shaheen Afridi looking like himself again, at least briefly picked up four wickets today.

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1673.162 - 1690.268 Liam Dawson

That's a huge plus for Pakistan to have their strike seamer back in form. As you say, their fate does now lie in other hands, but it's loads of hands. It's not just one sequence. There's a few different scenarios which could see Pakistan go through, all of which are somewhat feasible. But what they do need to do is make sure they execute

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1690.467 - 1708.324 Liam Dawson

as close to this level, ideally about 10% better, and they'd be confident about getting over the line against Sri Lanka. But I don't think it'll be massively doom and gloom. It will. The general sense of doom and gloom is going to be there because you've lost a game, and you've lost a close game, and you've lost to England, and you're now on the brink of elimination from the tournament.

1708.304 - 1721.962 Liam Dawson

So, you know, there's a sense of doom and gloom. But it wasn't an awful performance from Pakistan from start to finish. There were loads of positive points. Ultimately, as you say, it came down to a player playing just spectacular innings. That was the difference between the two sides.

1722.002 - 1735.24 Liam Dawson

He alone was playing in a completely different environment, different conditions, different headspace to everybody else that took to that field today. So I don't think they'll take it too hard. There will be disappointment, but equally, they'll know that they were You know, they were beaten by a special knock.

1735.26 - 1746.594 Liam Dawson

I think it was sort of all summed up quite nicely by the way Shaheen Afridi shook hands with Harry Brooke after he got him out with a lovely Yorker. He didn't celebrate, just walked over, shook his hand, patted him on the back and said, well batted.

1746.614 - 1747.695 Alex Hartley

It's a touch of class, that actually.

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