T20 World Cup: England rescued by old Ashes foe Travis Head

The result is England move on to St Lucia, having looked certain to be on the next flight to London despite their own dramatic win over Namibia on Saturday.

And this was supposed to be the easy part; qualification from a group that should not have led to such drama for the defending champions.

Instead, jeopardy has been around their campaign since their opening game against Scotland was washed out before defeat by Australia last Saturday heaped on more pressure.

Yet England deserve credit for the way they have responded since.

They dispatched Oman then Namibia, achieving the swing in net run-rate that has ultimately sent Richie Berrington’s Scotland home.

Against Namibia they coped well with the stress of the Antiguan weather, which threatened to send them home even before the Scots came agonisingly close.

England have pointed to a relaxed training session at the old Antigua Recreation Ground on Tuesday – a morning of practice that turned into a six-hitting contest in the nets – as evidence of a camp that is together.

They know they have been here before.

They won this tournament in the Caribbean in 2010 having scrambled through the group stage thanks to their net run-rate.

They had a similarly sketchy start to winning the title 12 years later in Melbourne.

Momentum has been one of their closest friends of late.

But still there are questions about how much we have really learned about this England side under captain Buttler and coach Matthew Mott in the past two weeks.

Through they go, but have they put their dismal defence of the 50-over World Cup last autumn behind them?

Wins against two associate sides, improving outfits nonetheless, are not enough to say conclusively.

Ten ropey overs against Scotland before the rain and the defeat by Australia in Barbados point to the contrary.

England, though, will now take their place in a Super 8s group that includes South Africa, co-hosts West Indies and the intriguing prospect of the USA.

It is a quartet with no obvious favourite.

The hosts, who England play first in the early hours of Thursday morning, were almost beaten by Papua New Guinea in their first game, South Africa escaped by the margin of one run against Nepal on Saturday while the US will no longer have home advantage with the group played solely in the Caribbean.

If England progress, a semi-final or final against Australia could await again.

There, you suspect, the Australians would be far less charitable.