Jacks the star as England qualify for Super Eights with nervy win

At least there is no danger of England peaking too early. This latest nervy win over Associate opposition - punctuated by a heavy defeat to West Indies - ensured their progress from Group C, but Harry Brook's side will have to play far better than this to stand a chance of becoming the first team to win the men's T20 World Cup three times.

Italy ran them far too close for comfort at Eden Gardens, eventually bowled out for 178 in pursuit of 203. They were 1 for 2 after Jofra Archer's first over, but destructive innings from their Australian-born allrounders Ben Manenti and Grant Stewart - who hit 11 sixes between them - made England sweat throughout the second innings.

For the second time in four matches, England were indebted to a fine hand from Will Jacks at No. 7. Against Nepal, Jacks launched 38 not out off 19 balls - including three final-over sixes - in a four-run win; against Italy, he belted the fastest half-century by an England player at a T20 World Cup, an innings that proved vital in another tight defence.

They had stumbled to 105 for 5 when Jacks walked in, England's top order again misfiring after Brook had won his fourth toss of the tournament and chosen to bat. But thanks to Jacks - and with help from Sam Curran and Jamie Overton - England thrashed 78 runs off the final five overs, leaving Italy with an imposing target to chase.

It looked miles off at 22 for 3, but Manenti and Justin Mosca added 92 for the fourth wicket to keep Italy in the hunt. Both men fell in quick succession during a collapse of 4 for 24 through the middle overs, but Stewart's late blows - including consecutive sixes during a 21-run Adil Rashid over - took the game deep.

That left Italy needing 30 off the final two overs - an equation that looked possible if Stewart could land a few more blows off their seamers. But he sliced Curran to short third to end the game as a contest, before Overton struck twice in the final over to seal England's passage to Sri Lanka for the second phase.

Manenti has limited pedigree as a T20 batter - he averages 9.23 across 42 BBL matches - but at 22 for 3, realised that there was no point knocking the ball around and watching the asking rate soar. Instead, he hit his first two balls for four off Jacks' offspin, then cracked the first ball of both Rashid and Liam Dawson's spells for six as they dropped short.

He was put down on 38, under-edging a tough chance to Buttler, after heaving Curran's slower balls for consecutive sixes, then brought up a 22-ball 50 - his second in as many innings at this World Cup - while hitting Jacks for 4, 6, 6, 4. But when he picked out long-on attempting a fifth boundary in a row, Italy's hopes faded.

Mosca never quite got away during his 43 off 34, and Curran's double-strike in the 16th over seemed to have put the game to bed. Stewart launched Archer over long-off then top-edged him for six before trading blows with Jaspreet Singh in Rashid's final over, but Curran held his nerve to close out England's win.

England broke through the 200 barrier in a T20 World Cup match for the first time in almost a decade, but their innings was anything but convincing as they wobbled their way to 114 for 5 after 14 overs. Italy's spinners bowled tightly through the middle overs, and they took wickets at regular intervals thanks to some excellent catching in the deep.

There was a compelling case before this tournament that England had the strongest opening partnership in the world, but Jos Buttler and Phil Salt have both been short of their best. Here, Buttler miscued to mid-off for the second time in three days and Salt picked out deep square leg after a brisk start, leaving England's openers with 114 runs between them across eight innings.

Jacob Bethell got stuck after the Powerplay before hauling a slog-sweep to deep backward square for an uncharacteristically sluggish 23 off 20, before Brook edged JJ Smuts' left-arm spin behind attempting to hit a third consecutive boundary. When Tom Banton picked out midwicket off a Crishan Kalugamage drag-down, England were struggling at 105 for 5.

Jacks is an opening batter by trade but has been recast as a No. 7 since Brook took over as captain last summer, and continued his impressive form in India. He had 14 off nine balls when a Kalugamage misfield kept him on strike for Manenti's final two balls, and he belted both for six to get England's innings moving - much to Manenti's visible frustration.

Curran followed suit with a brace of leg-side launches off Kalugamage before picking out cover but Jacks pressed on, bringing up 50 with the second of a pair of sixes in Stewart's final over. It was only the second time an England No. 7 has scored a T20I half-century.

Jacks was dropped midway through England's run to the semi-finals at the last T20 World Cup as they changed the balance of their side, but runs no such risk this time around. He is England's second-highest run-scorer at the tournament, behind Bethell, while only Shimron Hetmyer and Ishan Kishan (ten each) have hit more than his nine sixes.