England have been the most consistent team in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Eoin Morgan-led side has won four out of four matches in their campaign so far and are on top of the Group 1. However, there is still one way they can be eliminated from the tournament after just one loss to South Africa.
After Australia won their fourth match of the tournament with a convincing win over West Indies by eight wickets and 22 balls to spare, their net run rate (NRR) went up to +1.216. If South Africa bundle out England below 90 in their last match, they will not only qualify for the semi-final but eliminate England altogether despite a NRR of 3.183 before the game.
The Temba Bavuma-led side have three wins from four games and a NRR of +0.742. If they beat England by 58 or more runs, their NRR will be better than Australia leading to the latter’s elimination.
However, England getting eliminated from the tournament is very unlikely as they have been brilliant with bat and ball so far. The only setback for them is the injury of Tymal Mills who has been replaced by Mark Wood for the South Africa clash. Wood was in good form in the warm-up games as he took five wickets in two appearances including a four-fer against New Zealand.
Also, South Africa will have their eyes set on the scenario where they can better their NRR to get past Australia and not England. However, South Africa were similarly knocked out of the tournament in the inaugural edition of T20 World Cup where India beat them by a good margin which led to a negative NRR. The big loss led to the hosts getting eliminated and New Zealand going through.
