Kolkata, Feb 16 (NationPress) England's captain Harry Brook acknowledged that his team has not yet reached their full potential, even as they secured a place in the Super 8s following a challenging victory against Italy in their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Group C match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday. “We haven't played our best cricket, but at the end of the day, we've made it through, and we're heading to the next round, so we can be happy about that,” Brook stated during the post-match ceremony.

England scored 202/7 after being invited to bat first, with Will Jacks leading the charge with a vital half-century. Brook admitted that the consistency of England's batting lineup has not met their expectations throughout the group stage.

“Yeah, it's been a little bit of a trend so far in the competition. We haven't managed to string along the scores that we'd like to do as a batting unit, but that's part of T20 cricket,” he remarked.

Reflecting on the unpredictable nature of the format, Brook emphasized the importance of maintaining a proactive approach, saying, “It's a fickle game. One day you can smack a hundred, and the next day you can get out first ball. We've just got to keep on being brave and taking our options up.”

The team's bowlers faced a spirited challenge from Italy, but Brook credited their composure and fielding standards for their ability to maintain control. He highlighted the effectiveness of England’s death bowling, particularly praising Sam Curran, whose crucial breakthroughs were instrumental in securing the win.

“We fielded excellently. We bowled nicely as well, and I never really had any doubt there at the end with Sammy and Jamie over the principle the last couple of overs. He (Sam) was awesome. He has been throughout the tournament so far, and we've managed to scrape through, but there's been some good performances, especially from him and Will Jack, who has stepped up when we've been in tricky situations. That's really good to see,” he added.

Brook elaborated on his strategy of using Jofra Archer aggressively during the Power-play to secure early momentum. Looking ahead to the tournament's next phase, he stressed the importance of quickly adapting and enhancing England's batting intent.

“When you want something, you want to try and get as much out of it as possible and try and pull a real big dent into the opposition. We've probably played there before. We had a couple of weeks there, so we know what the conditions are like. So we've just got to go back and do what we were doing whilst we were there, which is adapting,” the skipper emphasized.

He reiterated the necessity for a more fearless approach with the bat, expressing hope that England will peak at the right moment in the tournament, stating, “But as I said a minute ago, make sure we're being brave with the bat, especially. You've only got 20 overs to bat, and you've got to try and get as many runs as possible. And that's probably been our little downfall in this group stage so far, is that we haven't quite been brave enough and taken our options as much as we felt. Hope that we peak at the right time, as you said, to still get all the way ahead of you.”