England snap 17-year European jinx

England finally buried a long-standing European hoodoo as they clinched a five-wicket victory over Scotland on Saturday, marking their first-ever win against a European side in T20 World Cup history -- a breakthrough that ended a 17-year wait.

For all their pedigree as two-time champions (2010 and 2021), England had previously stumbled every time they faced European opposition at the tournament. The drought began with defeat to the Netherlands at Lord’s in 2009, followed by another loss to the Dutch in 2014, a defeat to Ireland in 2022, and most recently to Scotland in 2024. Their 2010 match against Ireland was washed out.

That frustrating sequence finally came to an end thanks largely to a composed knock from Tom Banton, who guided England home with an unbeaten 63 off 41 while chasing 153.

Captain Harry Brook was full of praise for the right-hander, who had been dismissed for two in both of England’s earlier Group C games.

“He was awesome. It was a brilliant innings,” Brook said. “He’s obviously matured as a player… the way he’s chased that down there single-handedly, with a couple of cameos from [Jacob] Bethell and Sam [Curran]. He played it beautifully.”

England had slumped to 13-2 early in the chase and were still crawling at 54-2 after eight overs before Banton shifted gears, launching spinner Mark Watt for three towering sixes in a ninth over that cost 22 runs and effectively released the pressure.

Brook highlighted Banton’s growing adaptability as a key trait. “Everyone in the world knows he’s got a very good reverse sweep, so he’s had to adapt his game a little… because they try to stop him from hitting that shot,” he said.

“He’s a powerful player. He’s got long levers. He can hit the ball out of any ground, and he’s shown that tonight.”

Brook also felt Banton is settling into the number four role, calling it “the ideal position for him going forward”.

The win was vital after England’s earlier loss to the West Indies and a nervy four-run victory over Nepal. Now, victory over debutants Italy on Monday at Eden Gardens will secure their place in the Super Eight -- with a long-standing European curse finally lifted.