T20 World Cup 2022: How England provided the template for T20 cricket

That’s not to belittle Pakistan’s achievements – they did well to make it as far as they did, especially given they lost their first two Super 12s matches and were on the brink of elimination at one point. 

However, despite their best efforts at a re-run of 1992, when they had previously come back from the brink of elimination and went on to win the World Cup after beating England in the final, it always seemed likely they would fall short. 

This is because England, despite not having performed to their potential for the most part, still had the superior squad on paper. 

And so it proved. But one other thing that England had going for them was their ability to hit that all-important fifth gear when it was needed the most. 

Under Eoin Morgan, England became known as fearsome hitters of the ball who possessed an insatiable appetite for scoring runs as quickly as possible. 

However, that approach has an obvious downside – what if the team goes too attacking and the batters throw away their wickets? 

That did happen on a few occasions, but the English team stuck to their template in the belief that it would win them more games than it would see them lose. 

Indeed, their belief appeared correct as they made it to the T20 World Cup final in 2016, won their first ODI World Cup in 2019 and lost out in the semis of the T20 World Cup in 2021 before winning the title a year later. 

But their 2022 World Cup win saw them employ a markedly different approach, one where they chose when to be aggressive rather than batting in fifth gear at all times. 

It may be partly because the pitches in Australia were challenging to bat on and also provided some assistance to bowlers. 

However, England had also smartened up to the fact that being aggressive at all times was unnecessary. Picking and choosing your moments was more important. 

And their pivotal moment was, more often than not, the power plays. 

Take their final Super 12s encounter against Sri Lanka, which they needed to win to be in the semis. England knew the SCG was assisting spin, and it would get harder to score as the game went on. 

So they targeted the power plays, scoring over 70 runs and making things much easier for themselves as the match went on. 

The same thing happened in the semi-final when, chasing 169 against India, they bludgeoned India’s bowling in the first six overs. By the time the field came in, the match was over. 

The final saw a similar story, although Pakistan fared better than other teams. Still, England’s current ploy is to use the powerplay and consolidate in the middle before attacking in the death if needed. 

It will be interesting to see if other teams pick up on this as time passes, but it has proved a winning formula for Jos Buttler & Co.