After being pushed close by Nepal earlier in the tournament, England again had a bit of a scare against an associate, surviving thanks to some superb death bowling from Sam Curran and Jamie Overton.

With both sides unchanged, England chose to bat first after winning the toss. A few players got starts in the first part of their innings, but it wasn't until the sixth wicket pairing of Sam Curran and Will Jacks that they looked to settle.

That pair took the score from 105-5 to 159-6 before Curran was dismissed, with Jacks and Jamie Overton adding another 35 for the seventh wicket. Jacks finished unbeaten on 53 from 22 balls out of England's total of 202-7.

Italy's reply didn't start particularly well with Anthony Mosca out first ball in Jofra Archer's opening over, with the experienced JJ Smuts following later in the same over. Justin Mosca and Ben Manenti then added 92 for the fourth wicket before the latter was out at the end of the twelfth over having scored 60 from only 25 balls.

JJ Smuts out caught in Italy's first over

Mosca followed soon afterwards for 43, the first of three wickets that fell for just three runs as Italy went from 135-4 to 138-7. When Archer came back on to bowl the 17th over, Kent all-rounder Grant Stewart began a one man campaign to pull off what would have been a remarkable victory.

He hit Archer for two sixes to get Italy needing 51 from the last three overs. Adil Rashid then conceded three sixes - two hit by Stewart and one by Jaspreet Singh as 21 came from the over, leaving Italy needing 30 from the last two overs.

Sam Curran came back into the attack and bowled well, conceding just five runs and - most crucially - taking the wicket of Stewart for 45. Jamie Overton then finished the game with a double wicket maiden to bowl Italy out for 178, secure a 24 run win and avoid one of the biggest upsets in cricket history.

Italy still have a match to come on Thursday against the West Indies, whilst England will next play in the Super 8 stage on Sunday.