England narrowly avoided opening with a loss in the 2026 T20 World Cup, after Nepal pushed them close in a thrilling contest in Mumbai.
In the end, Nepal didn’t quite get over the line, but the threat of pulling off a huge upset over the 2022 champions continues a trend for England at men’s T20 World Cups. Since the first edition of the tournament in 2007, England have played nine World Cup matches against teams currently ranked outside of the top 10 T20 nations by the ICC. Their record in those games reads: four wins, three losses, and two No Results. Even within those wins, those matches are littered with close calls like the one against Nepal earlier this week.
For four T20 World Cups from 2014 to 2022 England were fast-tracked to the ‘Super’ stage of the tournament, avoiding facing most lower-ranked sides and limiting the opportunities for slip-ups against teams they’re expected to beat. Equally, of teams who have won the T20 World Cup in the last 10 years, none have lost more matches to the same group of nations as England have, with the West Indies’ losses to Scotland and Ireland in the preliminary round of the 2022 competition the only other instances.
England on the other hand, have a long wrap sheet.
Netherlands 2009
Netherlands won by 4 wickets
In another opening match thriller 17 years ago, the Netherlands pulled off one of the greatest upsets in history at Lord’s. With seven needed off the final over, Ryan ten Doeschate and Edgar Schiferli scrambled two off an overthrow from Stuart Broad’s final delivery, triggering wild celebrations, and shellshocked England players. It was a game littered with errors from England, which started when they put out a weakened side in anticipation of high workloads across the tournament. After Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright were out, England’s middle-order capitulated, and Adil Rashid – on international debut – was targeted by ten Doeschate in the middle overs of the chase. The overriding basis of the win, however, was in the Netherlands’ steely nerves, which saw them deliver one of the first of such lessons to ‘bigger’ teams – never underestimate the Associates.
Ireland 2010
No result
Strikingly, England failed to win a single match in the group stages of the tournament they first claimed a T20 World Cup title in. They lost to West Indies on DLS and then were sliding towards defeat, and an exit from the competition before rain intervened against Ireland. After putting a measly 120 on the board, in which only two of their top six struck at over 100, Ireland were 14-1 in response before rain put an end to the match. Too soon to tell if Ireland would have been able to oust England from the tournament, but the chase was on.
Netherlands 2014
Netherlands won by 45 runs
Both times England have faced the Netherlands in a men’s T20 World Cup, they come off second best. In 2014, five years after their historic win at Lord’s, England were utterly humiliated in a match that wasn’t even close. Chasing 134, England were bowled out for 88, bettered by Logan van Beek (3-9) and Mudassar Bukhari (3-12). Coming two months after the 2013/14 Ashes, this was one of English cricket’s lowest points. England hit four boundaries in their entire innings, a sign of just how far behind they’d fallen in white-ball cricket.
Ireland 2022
Ireland won by 5 runs (DLS)
This time, the weather intervened in Ireland’s favour. They set England 157 in Melbourne before Josh Little got rid of both Alex Hales and Jos Buttler in his opening two overs. As Dawid Malan struggled to keep up with the required rate, Moeen Ali came in and whacked 24 off 12 balls to get England closer. In the 15th over of the innings, he hit 12 runs off Gareth Delaney’s first three balls before the umpires brought the players off, with England five runs short of where they needed to be. Eleven years after Kevin O’Brien saw them to victory in the 50-over tournament, Andy Balbirnie led Ireland as the only side to beat England in that edition of the tournament.
Scotland 2024
No result
Only 10 overs of Scotland and England’s group stage clash in 2024 were possible before rain halted proceedings in Bridgetown, but it was enough for the Scots to put down a marker. George Munsey and Michael Jones put on 90 runs between them, peppering the boundary. Chris Jordan was their main target, but so was Adil Rashid in a rare instance where he was taken down, with 26 runs coming off his two overs. There’s no way of knowing how long their assault would have lasted had the rain not put a stop to it, or whether England would’ve bashed out a big chase with ease. But it was another example of England being put under pressure by a side they would bank on beating.
Nepal 2026
England won by 4 runs
Finally we get to the latest entrant. England’s batting was lacklustre, as they struggled to negotiate Nepal’s spinners who smelt blood. If it wasn’t for Will Jacks’ slamming three sixes off the last over, the result could well have been different. Equally, Sam Curran’s superb final over of the match saw Nepal finish an agonising four runs short. Nepal have played just four matches in T20 World Cups since 2014 (all in 2024) and in two of them they’ve almost unstuck a senior side. Having played one game so far in the current edition, they’ve already left an indelible mark.
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