Colombo: England all-rounder Will Jacks on Friday equaled Australia legend Shane Watson’s 14-year-old record of winning four Man of the Match awards in a single edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Jacks was instrumental in England’s hard-earned four-wicket win over New Zealand at the R Premadasa Stadium here earlier today, backed by his economical bowling figures of 2/23 from his four overs and an unbeaten 32 off 18 balls.
The award marked Jags’ fourth appearance at the 2026 T20 World Cup, having previously received the laurel against Nepal, Italy and Sri Lanka respectively.
As a result, Jakes became only the second player in the tournament’s history to win four Man of the Match awards in a single edition, joining Australia’s Watson, who set the benchmark in 2012.
Watson won man of the match awards in Australia’s group stage matches at the 2012 T20 World Cup against Ireland, West Indies, India and South Africa.
Jacks has been instrumental in England’s ongoing T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, scoring 191 runs in seven innings at an impressive average of 63.66 and a half-century at an impressive strike rate of 176.85.
The 27-year-old has seven wickets to his name at the mega event at an average of 22.14 with excellent bowling figures of 3/22, which he recorded against Sri Lanka in England’s Super Eight campaign opener on Sunday.
Notably, Jacks has taken the maximum two matches to surpass Watson’s four Man of the Match awards in one edition of the T20 World Cup as he qualified for the semi-finals with three Super Eight wins against two-time champions England, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand respectively.