Harry Brook's relief was palpable at the end of a nervy run-chase against Scotland. The final result, a five-wicket win with ten balls to spare, looked comfortable enough on paper, but the angst in his team's campaign hasn't yet been fully dissipated.

After the fright of their lives against Nepal and an old-school outmuscling against West Indies, England have progression to the Super Eights back in their grasp, with Italy awaiting at the same venue on Monday. But, as Brook conceded, the flaws in their performance will need some attention in between whiles.

"I'm just glad that we got over the line tonight," Brook said at the post-match presentations. "We haven't quite had that perfect game yet. They've all been a little bit niggly so far. And hopefully we can have an easier game against Italy, and play our best cricket that everybody knows and loves. And we can put some smiles on some faces back home, and get through the group stage."

Brook himself had declared his team were "too careful" in their hefty loss against West Indies in Mumbai, where they'd been outgunned by 13 sixes to six. In Kolkata, at least, they finished on the right side of that ledger - by seven sixes to five - thanks in particular to the decisive take-down of the contest, Tom Banton's assault on Scotland's premier spinner, Mark Watt.

"He was awesome," Brook said, after Banton had launched Watt for 22 in his first over, en route to taking him for 28 runs in the 11 balls of their match-up. After two single-figure scores against Nepal and West Indies, it was a vindication too of Banton's presence at No. 4, even though this was not the surface for his trademark reverse-sweeps.

"I like to sweep and reverse, but I think my plan was to go as straight as possible," Banton said, after accepting the Player-of-the-Match award for his 63 not out from 41 balls. "Then when they miss short, you can try and pull it away. When your match-up comes on, you've got to really try and take it down. And keep backing yourself."

Banton's straight lines made for a stark contrast with Scotland's own options when batting (and indeed that of his captain, who fell for 4 while attempting a ramp). After being pegged back early by a pumped-up Jofra Archer, Richie Berrington and

Tom Bruce rebooted their innings with a fourth-wicket stand of 71 in seven overs. But from 113 for 3, they collapsed to 152 all out in their next seven, with five wickets falling to the spinners in a succession of cross-batted shots.

"That's something we'll probably reflect on," Berrington said afterwards. "I think we knew spin was going to be key through that middle phase today, and obviously our execution was slightly off. Just being real clear on our best options, especially as we move on now to different conditions [after three matches in Kolkata]. That partnership through the middle was really good. It just wasn't quite long enough."

Despite picking up 3 for 36 in his four overs, Adil Rashid endured another tricky day with his second over going for 18, and Brook knew full well that his team could have been chasing nearer 200 had Scotland closed out their own batting with more composure.

"We were over the moon with that," he said, after eventually being set 153. "They batted really well against our spinners again in that first couple of spells, and they were getting ahead of us at one point, but then we managed to drag it back really w

One undoubted plus for England, however, was the form of Archer. He had been taken for 90 runs across the first two matches of the campaign in Mumbai, despite hitting speeds of up to 148kph/92mph. But on a pitch that was far more to his liking, he found a hard length to harass Scotland's top-order throughout the powerplay, and finished with 2 for 24 in his four overs.

"He was slamming the length beautifully today," Brook said. "He got his lines and lengths perfect, and was bowling gas again and with good skill. So it's nice to see him back on the park and doing really well."

England's win was, remarkably, their first against European opposition in T20 World Cups, following two defeats by the Netherlands in 2009 and 2014, Ireland's win in Melbourne in 2022, and a pair of washouts - including against Scotland in their only previous T20I in 2024.

All of which means that England can take nothing for granted when they come up against Italy on Monday, especially in light of their own extraordinary ten-wicket win over the same Nepal team who had pushed England to the brink in the opener. Nevertheless, if Brook's men can prevail, they will book a return to Sri Lanka for the Super Eights, and the same pitches where they secured a hard-fought 3-0 series win only last month.

The confidence that the team had projected after those wins hasn't hung around, however, and Brook was at a loss to explain why.

"I'm not quite sure, to be honest," he said. "We just haven't quite hit our strengths so far. Hopefully that comes. We don't want to hit it too early, but obviously we want to get through the group stages. Hopefully against Italy, that can be the start of the rise."