Chris Jordan enjoys ‘a special moment’ after his hat-trick gave England victory | T20 World Cup 2024

“Never up and down” is the attitude that has always served Chris Jordan well as a death bowler in the Twenty20 tournaments. And even when asked if he had taken a hat-trick for England in his native Barbados, he tried to draw attention back to his team’s performance.

But eventually, 35-year-old Jordan finally accepted his place in the spotlight, having just dismissed tail-enders Ali Khan, Nosthush Kenjige and Saurabh Netravalkar in the space of three balls to secure a 10-wicket win over the USA and a place in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup.

“Of course it was special to be in the place where I was born, a place where I played so much cricket, in front of my family, my friends, hearing the atmosphere, the music… yeah, it was special,” Jordan said. “And also because my family don’t have the opportunity to travel around the world and watch me play international cricket.”

When asked who was in the stadium that day, he replied: “My mum, my dad, my sister, my brother-in-law, my nephew. My nephew is the one because he called me this morning and said, ‘If you play, make sure you take three wickets today.’ So I looked up and he was jumping up and down. One day he might be out there trying to do the same thing.”

England’s next venue will not be confirmed until Monday, with the knockout stages including the slightly ridiculous, money-driven stipulation that India must play the second semi-final in Guyana on Thursday – a day game that will be better watched at home – rather than under floodlights in Trinidad the night before.

“You just want to go through,” said England captain Jos Buttler when asked if he had a favourite. “It’s been a tough tournament, we’ve seen close games, some upsets, we’ve just got through to the Super Eights, now we’re in the semi-finals. So we just need to keep ticking the right boxes and from here on out it’s a game that anyone can win.”

Aaron Jones, who captained the USA in the second half of their impressive debut season, said: “This is our first World Cup and a lot of people didn’t think we would be playing against England, the West Indies and the big guys here.

“Hopefully this will open the eyes of the American public. We received a lot of calls and messages of support during the World Cup.”