England were given a major scare at the beginning of their T20 World Cup campaign but Sam Curran held his nerve to deliver a four-run win over minnows Nepal at a raucous Wankhede Stadium.
With Nepal needing 10 from the final over to secure a famous victory in the first ever meeting between the two sides, Curran nailed his lines and lengths to get England out of jail in a breathless contest.
It was England’s 11th win in 12 completed T20s, secured after recording the highest score of the tournament of 184 for seven, underpinned by Jacob Bethell’s 55 off 35 balls and Harry Brook’s 53 off 32 in an innings where they faced 14 overs of spin.
Will Jacks’ cameo 39 not out off 18 deliveries proved just as important, while Liam Dawson shone with the ball with two for 21 as England were pushed to the limit by their Associate opponents, whose every boundary was cheered to the hilt by thousands of Nepali fans inside the Mumbai ground.
While Adil Rashid failed to take a wicket for the first time in 25 T20s and was expensive, England reduced Nepal to 146 for five, only for Lokesh Bam’s unbeaten 39 to turbocharge their innings.
However, he was unable to get Curran away at the death and this England side avoided following their 2009 iteration, who were stunned by the Netherlands in their curtain-raiser, in a shock defeat.
England, who beat Sri Lanka in ODI and T20 series after a bruising Ashes loss, elected to bat first in 30 degrees heat in Mumbai, where Phil Salt top-edged Sher Malla’s first ball to short fine-leg.
But the T20 debutant found a tougher opponent in Bethell, whose first six boundaries came off the mystery spinner, including two leg-side sixes from drag downs.
Bethell ended his streak by thrashing leg-spinner Kushal Bhurtel for six to bring up England’s 100 and a meaty slog sweep from the next ball got the same result, taking him to an impressive 28-ball fifty.
He found support from Brook after Jos Buttler nicked off for 26 and Tom Banton departed lbw, which left England 57 for three from 6.1 overs, with the Yorkshireman collecting just 20 from his first 17 balls.
Brook sparked into life by clearing the rope off Sandeep Lamichhane and Dipendra Singh Airee but Bethell – attempting a similar takedown of the latter – found the hands of Bam, which led to a mini-slump for England, who took just 13 runs from the following 23 deliveries after the wicket.
When Nepal turned back to pace, Brook perished the ball after bringing up his half-century and it was left to Jacks to thump three sixes off the final over, the last of them bringing up the highest score of the tournament.
If England thought that would unsettle Nepal, it was forgotten when Bhurtel clubbed three fours in four balls off Jofra Archer before lofting Luke Wood for six as they took 31 off the first three overs.
While Bhurtel limply chipped back to Jacks for 29, after Dawson found Aasif Sheikh’s top edge, England were still not out of the woods, with Rashid uncharacteristically expensive as Paudel and Airee collectively took 42 from his three overs, including 19 off the third, to raise Nepal’s hopes.
Airee’s reverse sweep for six off England’s premier spinner seemed a momentum switch but he perished for 44 in the next over, not quite connecting with Curran’s slower ball and picking out Banton in the deep.
Paudel holed out for 39 to Salt, who took a fine catch tumbling forward, to give the excellent Dawson a second wicket, but Bam’s back-to-back sixes off an Archer over that cost 22 breathed fresh life into Nepal.
Wood leaked 14 from the penultimate over as 54 needed from 21 balls became 10 off six but Bam could not find a boundary off Curran as England started their Group C campaign with a win.
