England beat the USA by ten wickets and secure a place in the semi-finals of the World Cup

• England defeated the USA in the T20 World Cup by ten wickets
• Chris Jordan took four wickets in five balls as England dismissed the USA for 115
• Jos Buttler and Phil Salt brutally helped England reach the total

England have reached the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup after Chris Jordan’s magnificent hat-trick and Jos Buttler’s monstrous sixes swept the USA away at the Kensington Oval on his native island. So much for the agonising calculations of net run rate.

This result meant that Buttler’s reigning champions became the first team to reach the semi-finals – and did not have to rely on a South African victory over the West Indies in the late match on Sunday evening in Antigua.

England will not know until late Monday night whether they will play Trinidad on Wednesday or Guyana on Thursday, when the restructuring of Group 1 is complete. India, Australia and Afghanistan are vying for two places, one of whom will play England next.

But as they cruised their way to a 10-wicket victory by 62 balls on Sunday, they weren’t worried about the venue or the opposition.

Last week England were just 46 minutes away from being knocked out in the rain in Antigua. They then suffered a second near-death experience as Australia struggled to catch up with Scotland. Friday’s defeat to South Africa in St Lucia dulled the shine of their impressive victory over the West Indies two days earlier.

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England have faced more changeable weather than the rainy season in the Caribbean, but they can still sit back and watch others struggle to join them. For the first time at this World Cup, they have some breathing room.

They didn’t need two remarkable individual performances to win a game against the limited U.S. team, but they did it anyway.

The Americans, sent in to bat, had reached 115 for five with 13 deliveries remaining when Sam Curran had Harmeet Singh caught by the reeling Jordan at long-off. Jordan then went to work with the ball when former New Zealand international Corey Anderson smacked a full toss straight to Harry Brook at long-on.

Ali Khan barely survived when bowled first ball, but the USA’s respite was short-lived: Jordan beat Khan’s off stump with his next delivery and produced another inducer to catch Nosthush Kenjige first ball. An inevitable review resulted in an equally inevitable three reds on DRS.

In front of a lively crowd at Kensington Oval cheering for a player they still consider their own, Jordan then found more lateral movement to hit Saurabh Netravalkar’s middle stump and complete England’s first hat-trick in T20 internationals. That completed a bizarre collapse from five nil down in six balls, and Jordan – born in the neighbouring parish of Christ Church and educated in nearby Combermere – struggled to wipe the smile from his face.

“It was special to score this hat-trick in the place where I was born and played so much cricket, in front of my family and friends, with the great atmosphere and the great music,” he said.

“My family can’t travel around the world and watch me play international cricket. To do it in front of them – my mum, my dad, my sister, my brother-in-law and my nephew – is the greatest thing, and in a World Cup match to make sure we qualify.”

“We left England a few weeks ago to defend our title. There were a few obstacles along the way, but they were good obstacles because they sharpened our focus and made our direction clear.”

Jordan had conceded 68 in six overs during England’s two disappointing group stage appearances against Scotland and Australia, but Mark Wood’s problems and the management’s shift in emphasis from pace to nuance led to a recall. He will now be difficult to dislodge.

When it was their turn to bat, England’s first objective was to reach their target of 116 in 18.4 overs or less, but Buttler’s brutality soon dashed that aim.

He warmed up with consecutive sixes in the third over of the chase against Netravalkar, then hit five sixes in five legal balls – separated by a wide distance – off Harmeet’s left-arm spin, damaging a pair of solar panels on the stadium roof in the process.

Under the admiring gaze of Phil Salt, Buttler finished with 83 points from 38 balls, leaving a lukewarm tournament behind him just in time for the knockout rounds.

“It’s important to pay attention to my own game as well,” he said. “Even if you try to be captain and keep an overview, I’m still one of eleven: I have to do my job.”

When Buttler attacked US seamer Shadley van Schalkwyk behind the point for the winning four, England had only used 9.4 of their 20 overs. It was a massacre no matter how you looked at it.

Given the heroics of Jordan and Buttler, it was easy to overlook another world-class performance from Adil Rashid, who took two for 13 in his four overs, outwitting both Aaron Jones and Nitish Kumar, the USA’s leading scorer, with pinpoint googlies.

Rashid has been England’s bowling banker in the tournament, taking nine wickets at 17 and conceding just 6.70 per over. Among his team-mates, only Reece Topley has been harder to hit. Wherever England play their semi-final, he should enjoy the conditions.

It is fair to point out that England are in the last four despite winning just one of their three friendly opponents and putting up a ruthless performance against Oman, Namibia and the USA.

But that’s how tournaments go. And if they can beat the big guys this week, they might still be able to leave the Caribbean as world champions.