The 2024 T20 World Cup began over the weekend and sees defending champions England rival the likes of India and Australia for the trophy in a 20-team tournament hosted by West Indies and the USA.
Less than eight months after the disastrous defence of their 50-over World Cup trophy, England will attempt to retain their T20 crown.
In an expanded T20 World Cup, 19 other teams will hope to prevent Jos Buttler from lifting the trophy in a tournament which can essentially be split into three phases.
How will the tournament work?
The 20 teams have been separated into four groups of five based on rankings and they will all play each other once in a round-robin format.
The top two from each group will then advance to the Super 8s, where the remaining eight sides will be split into two groups of four and, like in the group phase, play each other once.
Similarly, the top two from each Super 8 pool will advance to the semi-finals, where the winner of Group 1 plays the runner-up in Group 2, and vice versa, for a place in the June 29 final.
T20 World Cup groups
Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, USA
Group B: England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland, Oman
Group C: New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea
Group D: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Nepal
Potential Super 8 pools
Group 1:Â India (A1), Australia (B2), New Zealand (C1), Sri Lanka (D2)
Group 2: Pakistan (A2), England (B1), West Indies (C2), South Africa (D1)
What are the squads for the T20 World Cup?
England
Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.
Afghanistan
Rashid Khan (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Nangyal Kharoti, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik. Reserves: Sediq Atal, Hazratullah Zazai, Saleem Safi.
Australia
Mitch Marsh (captain), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matt Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Reserves: Jake Fraser McGurk, Matthew Short.
Bangladesh
Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Taskin Ahmed, Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Shakib Al Hasan, Tawhid Hridoy, Mahmud Ullah Riyad, Jaker Ali Anik, Tanvir Islam, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib. Reserves: Afif Hossain, Hasan Mahmud.
Canada
Saad Bin Zafar (captain), Aaron Johnson, Dilon Heyliger, Dilpreet Bajwa, Harsh Thaker, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh, Rayyankhan Pathan, Shreyas Movva. Reserves: Tajinder Singh, Aaditya Varadharajan, Ammar Khalid, Jatinder Matharu, Parveen Kumar.
India
Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav. Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan.
Ireland
Paul Stirling (captain), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.
Namibia
Gerhard Erasmus (captain), Zane Green, Michael Van Lingen, Dylan Leicher, Ruben Trumpelmann, Jack Brassell, Ben Shikongo, Tangeni Lungameni, Niko Davin, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, JP Kotze, David Wiese, Bernard Scholtz, Malan Kruger, PD Blignaut.
Nepal
Rohit Paudel (captain), Aasif Sheikh, Anil Kumar Sah, Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Lalit Rajbanshi, Karan KC, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Pratis GC, Sundeep Jora, Abinash Bohara, Sagar Dhakal, Kamal Singh Airee.
Netherlands
Scott Edwards (captain), Aryan Dutt, Bas de Leede, Saqib Zulfiqar, Kyle Klein, Logan van Beek, Max OâDowd, Michael Levitt, Paul van Meekeren, Sybrand Engelbrecht, â â Teja Nidamanuru, Tim Pringle, Vikram Singh, Viv Kingma, Wesley Barresi.
New Zealand
Kane Williamson (captain), Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee. Reserve: Ben Sears.
Oman
Aqib Ilyas (captain), Zeeshan Maqsood, Kashyap Prajapati, Pratik Athavale, Ayaan Khan, Shoaib Khan, Mohammad Nadeem, Naseem Khushi, Mehran Khan, Bilal Khan, Rafiullah, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Shakeel Ahmad. Reserves: Jatinder Singh, Samay Shrivastava, Sufyan Mehmood, Jay Odedra.
Papua New Guinea
Assadollah Vala (captain), Alei Nao, Chad Soper, CJ Amini, Hila Vare, Hiri Hiri, Jack Gardner, John Kariko, Kabua Vagi Morea, Kipling Doriga, Lega Siaka, Norman Vanua, Sema Kamea, Sese Bau, Tony Ura.
Pakistan
Babar Azam (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan.
Scotland
Richie Berrington (captain), Matthew Cross, Brad Currie, Chris Greaves, Oli Hairs, Jack Jarvis, Michael Jones, Michael Leask, Brandon McMullen, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Chris Sole, Charlie Tear, Mark Watt, Brad Wheal.
South Africa
Aiden Markram (captain), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeze Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs. Reserves: Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi.
Sri Lanka
Wanindu Hasaranga (captain), Charith Asalanka (vice-captain), Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Dhananjaya De Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Thushara, Matheesha Pathirana, and Dilshan Madushanka. Reserves: Asitha Fernando, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Janith Liyanage.
Uganda
Brian Masaba (captain), Simon Ssesazi, Roger Mukasa, Cosmas Kyewuta, Dinesh Nakrani, Fred Achelam, Kenneth Waiswa, Alpesh Ramjani, Frank Nsubuga, Henry Ssenyondo, Bilal Hassun, Robinson Obuya, Riazat Ali Shah, Juma Miyaji, Ronak Patel. Reserves: Innocent Mwebaze, Ronald Lutaaya.
USA
Monank Patel (captain), Andries Gous, Corey Anderson, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh, Jessy Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Noshtush Kenjige, Saurabh Nethralvakar, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir, Aaron Jones. Reserves: Gajanand Singh, Juanoy Drysdale, Yasir Mohammad.
West Indies
Rovman Powell (captain), Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Obed McCoy, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd.
How are England shaping up?
Much is expected of the defending champions but last yearâs 50-over World Cup showed past success is no guarantee of a positive campaign.
England lost six of their nine group games in India to crash out of the tournament at the group stage â a similar performance at the T20 World Cup would be nothing short of a disaster for Buttler and Matthew Mott.
The squad, as has been the case for England in white-ball cricket for the past decade, looks strong on paper despite Ben Stokesâ decision to miss the tournament.
Buttler is one of the most complete white-ball players in the world and scored two centuries at the recent Indian Premier League, while Will Jacks and Phil Salt also impressed with the bat in India.
In Harry Brook and Jonny Bairstow, England have two powerful middle-order players, while they can always rely on former No. 1 T20 bowler Adil Rashid for control and wickets.
The return of 2019 World Cup hero Jofra Archer can only be good news and England can also bank on Mark Wood and Reece Topley for speed and skill.
Englandâs T20 World Cup preparation was hampered by two washouts in their warm-up series against Pakistan, meaning they may be a little cold ahead of their opening game against Scotland on Tuesday.
âEngland will have been banking on these games,â England World Cup winner Alex Hartley said on BBC Test Match Special.
âItâs the classic one where the players will say they canât control the weather, which is understandable, but you want to be playing competitively before a global tournament.
âThere is a real fine line between being cooked for cricket and undercooked â you have got to get that right.
âYou want to find some form before the World Cup and if you do lose a couple of games you can find out where youâre going wrong as a team and where you can get better.â
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
MORE : Jos Buttler can lead England to a fast start at the T20 World Cup with victory over potential banana skin Scotland
MORE : Englandâs fringe players Ollie Watkins and Eberechi Eze can state their Euro 2024 case against Bosnia-Herzegovina
MORE : England international Brydon Carse hit with ban for betting on cricket
