T20 World Cup: England suffered a major scare before beating Nepal in the opener

England suffered a major scare at the start of their T20 World Cup campaign but Sam Curran held his nerve to complete a four-run win over minnows Nepal at a raucous Wankhede Stadium.

With Nepal needing ten from the final to secure a famous win in the first ever meeting between the two sides, Curran did everything he could to get England out of jail in a breathless battle.

It was England’s 11th win in 12 completed T20s, achieved after reaching the tournament’s highest score of 184 for seven, backed by Jacob Bethell’s 55 from 35 balls and Harry Brook’s 53 from 32 in an innings in which they encountered 14 overs of spin.

Will Jacks’ cameo 39 not out off 18 deliveries proved equally important, while Liam Dawson shone with the ball at two for 21 as England were pushed to the limit by their associated opponents, whose every boundary was cheered to the hilt by thousands of Nepalese fans at the Mumbai ground.

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Turbocharging

While Adil Rashid failed to take a wicket for the first time in 25 T20s and was expensive, England reduced Nepal to 146 for five, only for Lokesh Bam’s unbeaten 39 to boost their innings.

However, he was unable to put Curran away from the death and this England side avoided emulating their 2009 iteration, who were stunned by the Netherlands in their support act in a shock defeat.

England, who defeated Sri Lanka in the ODI and T20 series after a heavy Ashes loss, opted to bat first in 30-degree heat in Mumbai, where Phil Salt beat Sher Malla’s first ball at short leg.

But the T20 debutant found a tougher opponent in Bethell, whose first six boundaries came off the mystery spinner, including two sixes on the leg side of drag downs.

Impressive

Bethell ended his streak by beating leg-spinner Kushal Bhurtel six times to bring up England’s 100, and a meaty slog sweep from the next ball produced the same result, taking him to an impressive 28-ball fifty.

He found support from Brook after Jos Buttler took 26 and Tom Banton departed from lbw, leaving England 57 for three from 6.1 overs, with the Yorkshireman collecting just 20 from his first 17 balls.

Brook came alive by loosening the rope of Sandeep Lamichhane and Dipendra Singh Airee, but Bethell – who made a similar effort to remove the latter – found the hands of Lokesh Bam, leading to a mini-slump for England, who took just 13 runs off the next 23 deliveries after the wicket.

As Nepal regained pace, Brook fouled the ball after bringing up his half-century, and it was left to Jacks to hit three sixes in the final over, the last of which produced the highest score of the tournament.

Duration

If England thought this would upset Nepal, that was forgotten as Bhurtel hit three fours in four balls off Jofra Archer before picking up Luke Wood for six as they made 31 from the first three overs.

While Bhurtel chipped limply back to Jacks for 29, after Dawson found Aasif Sheikh’s top edge, England were still not out of the woods, with Rashid unusually expensive as Paudel and Airee combined for 42 from his three overs, including 19 from the third, to raise Nepal’s hopes.

Airee’s reverse sweep for six off England’s best spinner looked like a momentum change but he was lost for 44 in the next over, not quite connecting with Curran’s slower ball and picking out Banton in the deep.

Paudel holed 39 to Salt, who took a fine catch as he tumbled forward, to give the excellent Dawson a second wicket, but Bam’s back-to-back sixes off an Archer over that 22 breathed new life into Nepal.

Wood leaked 14 from the penultimate as 54 needed from 21 balls became 10 from six, but Bam could not find a boundary off Curran as England started their Group C campaign with a win.

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