• Fifth T20i: England, 257-3 beat India, 201-8, by 56 runs

• Buttler hits 131, Brook 95 as England seal 4-0 series win

Cast your minds back to February 2022: the Partygate scandal is in full swing as news breaks of the surprise birthday party held for Boris Johnson two years earlier and four of the prime minister’s top advisers resign; Russia launches a “special military operation” in Ukraine; Adele sweeps artist, song and album of the year awards at the Brits; and India beat West Indies to go to the top of the ICC’s T20 rankings. Finally, 1,601 days and two World Cup wins later, and after a humbling series of defeats across Ireland and England came to an often calamitous crescendo, they have been usurped. Instead England end a couple of phenomenal weeks on top of the world.

An extraordinary, and extraordinarily one-sided, series got the ending it deserved, with England scoring a remarkable 257 for three – breaking the record they set in Mumbai in March for the highest total ever posted against India in T20s – and though the tourists’ chase was, at least for a while, more spirited than much of their fielding they managed only 201. England won the game by 56 runs and the series 4-0.

• Rajasthan Royals opener hits third 50-plus score of his IPL career

• Coaches told youngster ‘to read the situation well and back my game’

Days after turning 15, Rajasthan Royals opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi found a perfect way to celebrate, tearing to a 15-ball half-century in a commanding eight-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.

Sooryavanshi, who lit up his debut season with a 35-ball hundred against Gujarat Titans last year, took only 15 balls to smash his first fifty of the season – the third fifty-plus score of his eight-match IPL career so far.

Jacob Bethell’s excellence was still not enough to carry England over the line as India set up a final showdown with New Zealand

England’s first task is to stop Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson getting off to a flyer. As Finn Allen showed yesterday, an opener can win a semi-final all by himself.

Will Jacks belts out God Save The King like a peroxide version of a Chelsea pensioner. As soon as it finishes, Harry Brook pops a piece of chewing gum into his mouth. The young chaperones look on with mild curiosity from under their yellow bucket hats.

England beat New Zealand by four wickets in the final over of their Super 8s match in Colombo

4th over: New Zealand 28-0 (Seifert 11, Allen 16) Dawson wheels away, Allen trots out of the crease and pulverises a full ball over the bowler’s head for SIX. “If it is up it is off” says Nasser Hussain on the Tv comms. Dawson recovers well though, singles the order of the rest of the over. Archer is coming back for a third on the bounce.

3rd over: New Zealand 17-0 (Seifert 8, Allen 8) Archer is up at 91 MPH and has the opening batters hopping. Seifert scampers a leg bye to get off the mark. Over to Finn Allen… GAS. Archer beats him with a rapid ball first up. He follows up with a slower ball that Allen spots, no doubt breathing a sigh of relief – and smashes over mid on for SIX! Keep the pace on I reckon Jofra.

A brilliant century from Harry Brook helped England to a two-wicket win that qualified them for the semi-finals with a match to spare

Pakistan: 1 Sahibzada Farhan, 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Salman Ali Agha (capt), 4 Babar Azam, 5 Fakhar Zaman, 6 Shadab Khan, 7 Usman Khan (wk), 8 Mohammad Nawaz, 9 Shaheen Afridi, 10 Salman Mirza, 11 Usman Tariq.

England: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Tom Banton, 5 Harry Brook (capt), 6 Sam Curran, 7 Will Jacks, 8 Liam Dawson, 9 Jamie Overton, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Adil Rashid.

• Former champions eliminated before final group match

• Zimbabwe go through to Super 8 phase

Australia have been knocked out of the Twenty20 cricket World Cup before even finishing their group stage fixtures after Zimbabwe’s match with Ireland in Sri Lanka was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

With each side taking a point from the rained-off tie Australia, on two points, can no longer catch Zimbabwe, on five, even if they win their final match against Oman on Friday.

• Group C: England, 202-7, bt Italy, 178 all out, by 24 runs

• Minnows denied by Curran and Overton in final overs

If England keep up the winning habit, perhaps in time they will get good at it. Under the lights here in Kolkata they did enough to beat Italy and secure a spot in this T20 World Cup’s Super 8s, though again without establishing themselves among the form teams of the tournament.

Harry Brook had declared he would “rather not start amazing and finish amazing than start amazing and finish bad”, and in that sense alone it is proceeding entirely according to plan. The next stage is unlikely to be so forgiving.

T20 World Cup Group C updates, play from 9.30am GMT
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If there are any early birds up and about, UAE are giving Afghanistan a proper game.

Looks like the Afghans should get over the line in a nervy chase, but they still need 28 from the final 18 balls. In the balance.

• Updates from the R. Premadasa Cricket Stadium in Colombo

• Start time is 3pm local/8.30pm AEDT/9.30am GMT

• Any thoughts? Email James

The news has just landed that Aussie captain Mitchell Marsh has been ruled out of this opening match against Ireland having suffered a blow to the groin during training earlier this week. Apologies if you are just dipping into your morning muesli or evening meal but Marsh is suffering with “testicular bleeding” after taking a blow to the groin in training earlier in the week. Poor chap.

“He [Marsh] is experiencing ongoing pain and discomfort which is restricting his movement,” say Cricket Australia in their statement. “Scans have confirmed internal testicular bleeding, and he will require a period of rest and rehabilitation. His return to play will be guided by symptom resolution and medical advice. Standby player Steve Smith will travel to Sri Lanka as cover to acclimatise and prepare, should he be required.”

Team of pizza-makers and teachers brought together by a passion for the sport hope to win hearts back at home

In a basement office in the north of Rome, Riccardo Maggio is unpacking boxes of blue jerseys with “Italia” written on them. He sighs when the landline phone rings again, and then again. Maggio is on his own, multitasking in the headquarters of the Italian Cricket Federation, tucked away in the building that houses the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni), the governing body for national sports.

The room is small and improvised, its shelves cluttered with old trophies, faded photographs of players and souvenir cricket bats. The base for Italian cricket is hardly the nucleus of a global sporting moment. Yet, in a story that has largely flown under the radar in Italy, for the first time in their history the men’s national cricket team have qualified for the T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India, which begins this weekend.

• Bangladesh have refused to travel to co-hosts India

• Scotland will face England in group-stage match

Scotland have been handed a late call-up to the T20 World Cup after Bangladesh were removed following a refusal to play their matches in India over safety concerns.

Amid increasing tensions with neighbouring India, Bangladesh repeatedly requested to move their group stage games next month – three in Kolkata, including one against England, and one in Mumbai – to co-hosts Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh was scheduled to play three cricket matches in Kolkata next month, but concern about players’ safety has spiked

Bangladesh will not play their Twenty20 World Cup matches in India, with the country’s cricket board saying they are concerned for the safety of their players amid growing tensions between the countries.

Bangladesh were scheduled to play three Twenty20 World Cup matches in Kolkata next month, with the 7 February to 8 March tournament being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.