'Ugly' England aim to spin their way to T20 World Cup semi-finals

England are yet to catch fire at the T20 World Cup, but they won’t mind one bit if another “ugly” win secures Harry Brook’s side a semi-final berth with a game to spare.

England bowled out Sri Lanka for 95 on Sunday to open their Super Eights campaign with a 51-run win.

With Pakistan and Zimbabwe’s clash on Saturday being washed out, a win against Pakistan on Tuesday at the same stadium will be enough to see the 2010 and 2022 T20 World Cup champions into the last four.

England again stuttered with the bat and were restricted to 146-9 by Sri Lanka on Sunday.

“We know that we can play a lot better,” all-rounder Liam Dawson told reporters after the win, in comments only made public on Monday.

“But at the end of the day in tournament cricket, you just need to get the win, however ugly.”

England’s bowlers came to the rescue for the third time in the tournament, after also defending below-par totals against Nepal and Italy.

“The fight we’ve shown with the ball shows that this team is in a very good place,” said Dawson.

Pakistan possess a dangerous spin attack, featuring a unique weapon in Usman Tariq and his pronounced pause before he releases the ball.

But Dawson said England would fight fire with fire with their own potent slow-bowling arsenal.

England captain Brook also has speedster Jofra Archer, the hit-the-deck-hard Jamie Overton and left-arm swing bowler Sam Curran as the seam options.

England’s flexibility enabled Will Jacks to open the bowling with his off-spin on Sunday and destroy Sri Lanka’s top order.

He returned figures of 3-22 in tandem with Archer, who removed both opening batsmen, to leave Sri Lanka in tatters at 34-5 at the end of the six-over power play.

England’s variety offers Brook endless options, said Dawson who bowls left-arm spin, as does Jacob Bethell.

“We’re all very different types of spinners. Jacksy gets very good over-spin, very good bounce.

“Dilly (wrist spinner Adil Rashid) has all these variations and me, I’m probably more of a defensive spinner and that’s my role. I’m just trying to be consistent for the captain.

“Adil can use all of his tricks and he comes on to get wickets and get us back in games or put us ahead in games.

“Obviously, Jacks, he’s been brilliant. He’s exploited conditions here very well.

“And I think the way Brookie captained today was phenomenal, how he used us all differently.”

But Dawson cautioned that the wicket on Tuesday night could play very differently to the tacky slow track they encountered on Sunday, which had sweated under covers after days of rain in Kandy.

“Obviously, a different challenge on Tuesday at a night game. It could be a better wicket. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.”