KOLKATA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - England beat Scotland by five wickets in the Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday to move up to second in Group C behind the West Indies, thanks to Tom Banton's unbeaten half-century at Eden Gardens.
Chasing 153 for victory, Banton's 63 off 41 deliveries guided England over the line after Scotland made early inroads into their top order.
"It's T20 cricket, it's a high-risk game and you've got to keep backing yourself," said Banton, who picked up the player of the match award after falling early against Nepal and the West Indies.
"At times it goes against you and it's hard, you've got to keep coming back, keep trying hard, keep practising. Luckily, today was my day."
England won the toss and elected to field, with pacer Jofra Archer picking up two wickets in his second over to dismiss George Munsey and Brandon McMullen while Michael Jones fell in the powerplay for a quickfire 33.
Richie Berrington and Tom Bruce (24) steadied the ship with a 71-run stand, a measured counter-offensive that targeted the spinners and increased the run rate to nine per over.
Both fell in quick succession, however, with Berrington out one run short of what would have been a hard-earned fifty when he was trapped lbw by Adil Rashid (3-36).
From a relatively comfortable 113-3, Scotland stumbled into disarray as the duo's wickets triggered another collapse but Oliver Davidson offered a final flicker of resistance with an unbeaten 20 that took Scotland to 152 all out.
"I thought we fought back really well after losing those early wickets," Berrington said.
"Myself and Brucey probably just needed one of us to go on a little bit longer into that innings so we could get that extra 20-30 runs."
BAD START FOR ENGLAND
England's chase got off to a poor start when the explosive Phil Salt fell to the third ball of the innings and fellow opener Jos Buttler was dismissed in the second over.
Banton and Jacob Bethell (32) shared a 66-run stand but Scotland struck twice again when Bethell and captain Harry Brook (four) attempted to play the sweep shot and were caught.
That brought Sam Curran to the crease and he eased the pressure with a knock of 28 before he fell skying aBrad Wheal delivery to wicketkeeper Matthew Cross.
But Will Jacks (16 not out) finished the chase in the penultimate over with the game's biggest six and a four.
IRELAND THRASH OMAN
In Saturday's first game, Ireland beat Oman by 96 runs after stand‑in captain Lorcan Tucker blasted an unbeaten 94 off 51 balls to set up a total of 235-5, with support from Gareth Delany (56) and late fireworks from George Dockrell (35 off 9).
Oman's chase never got going despite a half‑century from Aamir Kaleem and 46 from Hammad Mirza, as eight batters failed to reach double figures.
Josh Little led Ireland's attack with 3-16 while Matthew Humphreys and Barry McCarthy took two wickets each, leaving Oman winless after three matches.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
