England beat India by four runs to reach the Physical Disability Champions Trophy final in Sri Lanka.
England’s win means they go top of the four-team table and are guaranteed to finish in the top two, along with India, so the two countries will meet again in Tuesday’s final.
India beat England in their first group match earlier this week, but the latter got revenge on Saturday, securing victory from the last ball of the match as they successfully defended a total of 169-7.
India needed 12 runs from the last over after an explosive few overs before that bur after the first ball went for six, England’s Liam O’Brien managed to get a wicket and bowl three dot balls.
“It was a really good game,” said England’s Alex Hammond, who top-scored with a 33-ball 55 and took 1-22.
“India bowled well with the new ball and we lost a few early wickets, it was nice to see Jamie Goodwin get us off to a good start with a few boundaries up top.
“Coming out of the powerplay we had lost three of four wickets, so Angus Brown and I were together fairly early on. It was great batting with him, he gave me a bit more time to settle in and allowed me to start at a run a ball.
“We were in a good position after getting up to 170. The bowlers started brilliantly up top, Jordan Williams has been excellent all series and he was again, supported by Liam O’Brien, Callum Flynn and Anthony Clapham.”
England have lost just one group game and will finish in the top two (Owen Jervis)
England confident ahead of Tuesday’s final
England lost early wickets but Hammond and Angus Brown steadied the ship in the middle order, both securing their first half-centuries in the tournament.
“They are not unbeatable. We proved that in India last year, and now,” said Hammond. “As soon as we get rid of that fear and back our skills, we are really competitive.
“We haven’t had a perfect game yet. If we got off to a better start, we could have got 180, 190 or 200. Even with the ball at the end, our first 15 balls were excellent but maybe not at the end.”
Brown added: “We are massively confident. We back our skills and each other. We will learn from this game. We can’t look to lose that many wickets early on but we are confident going into the final.”
