England captain Harry Brook scored a brilliant century to help his side beat Pakistan by two wickets and seal their place in the 2026 T20 World Cup semi-finals.

Although late wickets made it a nervy ending, Brook's 100 off 51 balls saw England chase down a target of 165 with five deliveries remaining.

Sahibzada Farhan (63) got Pakistan off to a good start after they won the toss and decided to bat, though Saim Ayub (7) and Salman Agha (5) fell cheaply at the other end.

Jofra Archer (2-32), Adil Rashid (1-31) and Liam Dawson (3-24) helped England slow down the run rate while taking wickets, though Shadab Khan's 23 off 11 gave Pakistan a defendable total.

Shaheen Afridi (4-30) was then brilliant with the ball, dismissing Phil Salt with the very first delivery of the innings before he also removed Jos Buttler (2) and Jacob Bethell (8) in the powerplay.

But Brook took centre stage, scoring 10 boundaries and four maximums on his way to a 50-ball hundred, though he became Afridi's fourth scalp immediately after bringing up his ton.

Mohammad Nawaz (2-26) took two wickets in the 19th over to jangle some nerves in the England camp, though Archer (5 not out) got his side across the line with a four off the first ball of the final over.

Magnificent from the skipper!  pic.twitter.com/Woe1skt2Yq

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 24, 2026

Data Debrief: Delight for Brook, questions for Buttler

Brook, who was promoted to number three in the batting order, became just the third England player in men's cricket to score a hundred in all three formats, after Buttler and Dawid Malan.

He is also the third England batter to score a century at the men's T20 World Cup (also Buttler in 2021 and Alex Hales in 2014), while Brook is the first England captain to do so.

Buttler, meanwhile, has been dismissed for single-digit scores in each of his last four T20I innings (2, 7, 3, 3), the first time he has endured such a run in his career.

There was a silver lining even in defeat for Afridi, with his four wickets seeing him become Pakistan's leading wicket-taker in the shortest format (135).