Batting firepower, Sam Curran and Ben Stokes: How England won the 2022 T20 World Cup

Becoming the first men's team to simultaneously hold the T20 and ODI World Cups, 2022 was the year where England declared themselves undisputed white-ball champions and asserted their status as one of the greatest sides to grace the game.

Little over 18 months on from their captivating triumph over Pakistan in the final at Melbourne, England will head to the West Indies and United States aiming to defend the title they lifted in extraordinary fashion.

Yes, there were some blips along the way - not least the weather-affected defeat to Ireland in their second match - but England rallied, an aggressive style maximising their talent with bat and ball.

We look back on England's route to glory in the previous T20 World Cup.

Super 12 - England scrape through

Group 1

	Won	Lost	No Result	Net Run Rate
New Zealand	3	1	1	2.113
England	3	1	1	0.473
Australia	3	1	1	-0.173
Sri Lanka	2	3	0	-0.422
Ireland	1	3	1	-1.615
Afghanistan	0	3	2	-0.571

New Zealand got the Super 12 stage off to an emphatic start with a thoroughly impressive 89-run win over hosts Australia and while England made a successful start to their campaign, the team laboured to victory against Afghanistan.

Sam Curran became the first English player to take a five-for in a T20 international as he ripped through Afghanistan's lower order. Setting a total of 113 to win, England were pedestrian in the chase but the big-hitting Liam Livingstone ensured they done just enough to get over the line.

Then came the speed bump.

As Australia got off the mark with a seven-wicket triumph over Sri Lanka, England were ironically stumped by the weather in their clash with Ireland. The Irish won by five runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, with captain Andrew Balbirnie scoring a pivotal 62 from 47 balls to dampen England's World Cup hopes.

A tournament-defining contest against the Aussies was up next but the match was again impacted by a Melbourne deluge. The game was subsequently abandoned and as a result, Group 1 was wide open with two matches to play.

England knew only a win against New Zealand would suffice and Jos Buttler, making the rare decision in his period of captaincy to bat first, was the master technician in a crucial victory which kept them in the hunt for a top-two finish.

Buttler embraced his leadership responsibilities with flying colours, smashing 73 off 47 to inspire England to a score of 179. The onus was then on the bowling department to produce the goods and they duly delivered, with Curran, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and Ben Stokes taking a share of the wickets as they restricted New Zealand to 159.

Buoyed by their Kiwi conquering and with the net run rate in their favour, England faced Sri Lanka in Sydney. Those expecting a routine win were left to chew their fingernails as England, chasing a total of 142, went from a period of utter dominance to alarming chaos in little over four overs.

Reaching 70 without loss at the end of the powerplay, England got greedy and wickets soon fell. Reckless shots from Livingstone, Harry Brook and Mooen Ali were punished and it was up to Stokes to make a telling contribution with the bat to get his team over the line.

Not that any of us were ever in doubt.

Semi-Finals - Hales & Buttler obliterate India

Result:

• England (170/0) beat India (168/6) by 10 wickets

Finishing second in the Super 12 resulted in a semi-final tie with tournament favourites India and nobody could have foreseen the events that would unfold on a magical evening in Adelaide.

All eyes pre-match were on Virat Kohli, with India's star batsman breaking another record as he became the first player to reach 4,000 runs in T20Is, but it was a batting masterclass from Buttler and Hales that stole the headlines.

England's openers were in phenomenal form, slick and stylish in their execution as they ripped through India's lavish and renowned bowling attack.

Spinners Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin were introduced in an attempt to slow the run rate but even they couldn't muster a solution to the relentlessness of Buttler and Hales.

With a target of 169, the duo reached 170 with four overs to spare. Poor Phil Salt, who had been drafted in as a replacement for Dawid Malan at number three.

Very rarely have we witnessed India beaten so comprehensively and yet England managed it without breaking a sweat.

Final - Redemption for Stokes

Result:

• England (138/5) beat Pakistan (137/8) by 5 wickets

Pakistan awaited them in the final and if England were to achieve their second T20 World Cup triumph, they needed to do it with experienced campaigners Malan and Wood, who had both succumbed to injury.

Wood's absence placed additional pressure on the shoulders of Curran but the left-arm fast rose to the occasion, conjuring a Player of the Match performance as he claimed the scalps of Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood and Mohammad Nawaz.

Pakistan concluded their 20 overs on 137 and the early wicket of Alex Hales suggested this run chase was not going to be as straightforward as their India encounter.

Against a probing pace attack, England's explosive batting suffered some casualties but if there is one man you can depend on when the stakes are so high, it is Stokes.

Steadying the ship, the all-rounder delivered his maiden T20I half-century and it could not have been any more timely. Brief contributions from Brook and Ali helped England on their way but Stokes was the centrepiece to England's success.

The man for the big occasions had stepped up yet again, banishing the pain of his final over nightmare in 2016 to score the winning run as England won by five wickets.

Stokes' absence from the 2024 World Cup is a big blow to England's hopes, not just because they've lost a magnificent cricketer, but for his ability to flourish on the toughest of occasions and drag his team out of the mire.