The moments that turned England's World Cup around

A T20 World Cup campaign that was almost ended miserably for England after two weeks has reached the final few days.

The defending champions will play unbeaten India in the semi-finals in Guyana on Thursday at 15:30 BST.

Earlier in the tournament, the futures of captain Jos Buttler and coach Matthew Mott were being questioned but instead they have turned it around to have a shot at a third T20 title.

BBC Sport looks at some of the crucial moments in the recovery, including the stresses of supporting Australia, a relaxed training session and the impact of a local legend.

Scotland stress after Antigua rain

England were 46 minutes away from exiting the tournament when rain in Antigua threatened to wipe out their final group match against Namibia.

But, having been put in the precarious position by a washout against Scotland and defeat by Australia, the weather mercifully cleared in time for England to complete a commanding win to put them back in a strong position to progress.

They were still reliant on Australia beating Scotland later that night, however, in what turned out to be an evening of real stress.

The England squad watched from their team hotel in Antigua as Scotland dominated much of the game, only for Australia to win it at the death to save their Ashes rivals.

At one stage skipper Jos Buttler was so resigned to their exit he gave up and returned to his room.

"A few of us were having dinner, watching the Scotland game and then it got quite close and some of us turned it off because we got a bit nervous," admitted all-rounder Sam Curran a few days later.

Spirits lifted at a famous old ground

England's lowest point came earlier that week when they arrived in Antigua on the back of the defeat by Australia. A day later Scotland comprehensively beat Oman to increase the jeopardy of their situation even further.

Their first training session was at the Antigua Recreation Ground, ironically a site of English pain as the venue where Brian Lara hit his two world record Test scores.

Buttler set the tone. He was not initially supposed to speak to the media but did so, fronting up as captain in an unusual change.

He was relaxed, far more so than in a spiky interview before the opening game, and spoke of the "couple hours awake at night" because of the stresses of captaincy.

England's players then warmed up by chasing and hitting each other with foam swimming pool noodles as their music boomed around the now derelict stands of the famous old ground.

The Antigua Recreation Ground is no longer used for cricket matches but hosted some of the most famous innings in Test history

The batters practised range-hitting, with the outdoor press box in the firing line. Two hits landed on the desks, countless more on the roof. Harry Brook and Sam Curran sent balls rolling down the main road in the island capital of St John's after clearing the stands.

Buttler also urged his players not to get "consumed" by the net run-rate scenarios presented by their struggles.

The result was England beating Oman two days later in one of the most one-sided fixtures in World Cup history - a match which lasted just 16.3 overs across two innings combined.

The nervous night of watching Scotland was to come but it put England's campaign back on track.

A big win & Pollard's influence

England legend Andrew Flintoff is also part of the coaching staff

For all of the talk about a turnaround, England have still only beaten one Test-playing nation at this World Cup - West Indies.

But that win was a clinical, eight-wicket defeat of the co-hosts, who had been unbeaten in their previous eight T20s.

It was probably England's best white-ball performance since they won the T20 title in 2022 and meant they were always likely to progress even with a narrow defeat by South Africa in their next game, finally relieving some pressure.

The crucial moment in the bowling effort came when Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid conceded four runs and a single respectively while each taking a wicket from the 16th and 17th overs.

Phil Salt then hit a superb 87 not out in the chase of 181, soaking up pressure at times but also brutally hitting 30 off one over.

Afterwards Salt spoke of the advice given by Kieron Pollard, the former West Indies World Cup winner, who has been part of the backroom staff for this tournament.

Pollard, never shy in throwing balls in training, has kept a low profile for a five-time Indian Premier League winner at this tournament but references of his influence have regularly come out of camp.

One player described him as having an "aura".

Buttler said his calmness as the rain fell against Namibia helped in the managements tactical discussions.

"He’s been around and seen it all, and has that sort of laid-back attitude of this is just what happens, we can deal with it when it comes," Buttler said.