England have booked their place in the T20 World Cup semi-finals courtesy of thrashing USA by 10 wickets on Sunday.
The defending champions ruthlessly bowled out the tournament co-hosts for just 115, Chris Jordan completing the demolition with a hat-trick.
That left England knowing that qualification would be sealed if they could reach their target within 17.4 overs, a scenario that never looked in doubt.
Phil Salt largely watched on at the other end as Jos Buttler produced one of his most famous knocks, hitting five sixes in a row on the way to 83 from 38 balls.
One of India, Australia or Afghanistan will now await in the last four, with the semi-final lineup to be determined over the next 36 hours or so.
Jordan takes T20 World Cup hat-trick
Jordan's previous three wickets in the tournament had gone for 87, but the veteran exceeded his total of dismissals in just five balls at the end of the innings.
After getting the crucial wicket of Corey Anderson (29), the 35-year-old ripped through the remainder of the order to put England on the brink.
CHRIS JORDAN. 🤯🤩
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 23, 2024
W O W W W pic.twitter.com/2CMVkTqZO7
The feat followed Pat Cummins incredibly taking hat-tricks in successive matches for Australia over the past week.
Earlier, Nitish Kumar had made 30 from 24, but his exit from the crease left USA on 67-4 after 10.4 overs, far adrift of where they needed to be in order to make the game competitive.
San Curran (2-23) and Adil Rashid (2-13) deserve mentions for their contributions, but it was Jordan who put the icing on the cake ahead of Buttler's masterclass of power-hitting.
Buttler batters USA
There have been times when Buttler has come in for criticism of late, but this was an occasion when he was simply unplayable.
The skipper had already gone on a boundary barrage ahead of the five maximums that came at the back end of the match, with 66 of his 83 runs coming in boundaries.
Salt made a more pedestrian 25 from 21, it largely irrelevant given the manner in which Buttler went about his business, knowing that winning in just 9.4 overs gives England a chance of topping their Super 8s group.
Darren Plant
