England beat the rain and Namibia to keep their T20 World Cup defence alive – but are still reliant on Australia beating Scotland to go through to the Super 8s.
The weather threatened to wash the match out entirely – a scenario that would have eliminated England – but eventually the clouds cleared to allow a frantic, shortened contest.
Initially given 11 overs to bat, England were 13-2, including captain Jos Buttler out for a four-ball duck, but rallied to post 122-5 in an innings reduced to 10 overs by another shower.
Harry Brook made a crucial and enterprising 47 not out from 20 balls, while Jonny Bairstow hit 31 from 18.
Namibia’s target was increased to 126 because of the interruption and, despite finding wickets hard to come by, England always restricted the scoring.
A dramatic day took another turn when Namibia opener Nikolaas Davin retired out to bring big-hitting David Wiese to the crease with 82 from 24 balls needed. But even with Wiese striking 27 from 12, Namibia finished on 84-3 – England winners by 41 runs.
They must now wait to see if Australia beat Scotland in a match that starts at 01:30 BST on Sunday.
If they do, barring an improbably high-scoring match, England will go through to the Super 8s, where they will play their first match on Thursday (01:30 BST).
If Scotland beat Australia for the first time in their history, or if there is no result in St Lucia, Buttler’s side will miss out.
