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England survived a scare to qualify for the Super Eights at the T20 World Cup on Monday as Italy’s swashbuckling chase of 203 fell agonisingly short in a pulsating match in Kolkata.

Will Jacks scored the fastest T20 World Cup fifty for England as they made 202-7, their highest total of the tournament so far, and eventually won by 24 runs.

Italy, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, were on track to pull off a sensational upset when Grant Stewart and Jaspreet Singh blasted 21 off Adil Rashid’s final over, the 17th of the chase, including three sixes.

That left 30 needed off 21 balls, but it proved too much and Italy were all out off the last ball of the match for 178.

Most of England’s batsmen got good starts earlier after Harry Brook won the toss and chose to bat.

But only Jack’s capitalised as Italy kept chipping away with regular wickets. He reached his fifty off 21 balls to beat Eoin Morgan’s 25-ball effort against the West Indies in Kandy in 2012.

Jacks took the game by the scruff of the neck after England stuttered to 105-5 in the 13th over.

He put on 54 in 25 balls with Sam Curran (25) for the sixth wicket and 35 in 16 balls with Jamie Overton (15) for the seventh.

His fourth six, which took him to his fifty, also saw England pass 200 for the first time in the tournament, with Jacks finishing 53 not out off 22 balls.

The win guaranteed England’s passage to the Super Eights along with the already-qualified West Indies from Group C, South Africa and India.

Sensational catch

Italy got off to a terrible start in reply as Jofra Archer took wickets in the first over.

Jos Buttler then pulled off one of the catches of the tournament.

Italy captain Harry Manenti ramped Jamie Overton only for keeper Buttler to leap and take a stunning one-handed grab at full stretch.

Italy rebuilt brilliantly from 22-3 with Ben Manenti racing to 60 off 25 balls before he was caught by Tom Banton at long-on off Jacks.

Manenti smashed six sixes and four fours in a stand of 92 with Justin Mosca for the fourth wicket.

When Mosca was caught in the deep by Banton off Rashid to make it 135-5 in the 15th over, it seemed Italy’s hopes of pulling off only the third successful 200-plus chase in the history of the T20 World Cup might be over.

But Stewart had other ideas, blasting 45 off 23 balls to keep Italy in the hunt.

England were earlier 56-2 at the end of the six-over power play, having lost both openers.

Buttler, who has failed to pass 30 in the tournament so far, continued his run of low scores with three.

Phil Salt got off to a rapid start before also falling for 28 off 15 balls with two sixes.

Both were caught attempting big hits and, when Jacob Bethell followed suit for 23, England were wobbling at 67-3 in the eighth over.

Brook took a four and a six off the first two balls of JJ Smuts’ third over.

He edged the next ball to wicketkeeper Gian-Piero Meade, trying to cut and England were 92-4 after 11 overs before Jacks took charge.

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Afghanistan clung to their fading hopes of making the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup after Azmatullah Omarzai’s all-round brilliance fashioned their five-wicket victory against the United Arab Emirates in a Group D match on Monday.

The outcome sent group leaders South Africa, who have six points from three games, into the Super Eight alongside defending champions India and two-time winners West Indies.

New Zealand, with four points ahead of their final group match against bottom-placed Canada on Tuesday, look primed to claim the second Super Eight spot from Group D.

Sohaib Khan (68) led a spirited recovery to power UAE to a respectable 160-9 after being put in to bat.

Omarzai, who claimed 4-15 with the ball, returned to hammer 40 not out off 21 balls to secure 2024 semi-finalists Afghanistan’s first win in this year’s tournament with four balls to spare.

“Always important to have a win at the World Cup and let’s hope for the best in the rest of the competition,” Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said.

“We still have a little bit of hope that we can make it to the next stage. We just need to come up with a positive mindset.

“Even if we don’t make it to the next round, we want to play with the same brand of cricket and make our nation proud.”

Earlier, TV umpire Paul Reiffel found himself in the thick of action in the first four overs after Rashid won the toss and elected to field at Arun Jaitley Stadium.

UAE opener Aryansh Sharma edged the first ball from Omarzai but it was unclear if wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz had taken a clean catch.

Reiffel went through umpteen replays before giving the benefit of the doubt to the batter.

Three balls later, Reiffel was tasked with a similar job and this time the official decided that Aryansh was indeed out, caught behind for a duck.

Off-spinner Mujeebur Rahman trapped UAE captain Muhammad Waseem lbw for 10, a decision which Reiffel upheld after the batter reviewed it.

In the fourth over, Sohaib was initially given lbw to Mujeeb but he survived after replays confirmed the ball would have narrowly missed the leg stump.

The reprieve allowed Sohaib to combine with Alishan Sharafu (40) in an 84-run stand to steady the UAE innings.

Omarzai ended Sohaib’s fine knock, which included four sixes and six fours.

Afghanistan lost their in-form opener Gurbaz in the first over but first Ibrahim Zadran (53) and then Darwish Rasooli (33) kept them in the hunt.

Omarzai finally sealed Afghanistan’s win with a four off Junaid Siddique.

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