At the forefront of it was a spectacular 40-ball 94* by Aaron Jones which started USA, the co-hosts of the T20 World Cup, flagged off their campaign in style with a seven-wicket win over rivals Canada, chasing a massive target of 195 with 14 balls to spare. It was the third-highest run-chase in T20 World Cups and the highest ever for USA in T20Is.
Aaron Jones, the vice-captain, and Andries Gous, the former South African player and current Texas resident, made a mockery of their chase of 195 with a 131-run third-wicket partnership at a whirlwind run rate of 14.29. USA got the job done with seven wickets and 14 balls to spare. Aaron Jones went on a six-hitting spree – he cleared the boundary ten times – and celebrated most of those with animated fist-pumps, which had the crowd chanting: “USA! USA! USA!”
Pitch and Toss
The average batting score in 12 MLC games played at the venue last year was 167, while teams batting first have won 8 out of 12 games. The pitch generally has enough for the batsmen to be expressive in their stroke play. The new ball does tend to swerve around a bit under lights as well. Approaching its second season, the average first innings scores are expected to spike as the surface hardens up.
The rain in the lead up to the games shouldn’t play a role in determining the nature of the wicket as subsequent hot temperatures are poised to suck up any prevalent moisture.
USA skipper Monank Patel won the toss and chose to bowl as Canada skipper Saad Bin Zafar didnt mind batting first.
Canada throw the first punch with the Navneet Dhaliwal and Nicholas Kirton show
It was a decent start to the innings after being sent in, with Aaron Johnson kicking off the World Cup in style with a first-ball boundary. There was not a lot of movement available for the opening bowlers Ali Khan and Saurabh Netravalkar, allowing the Canada openers to play their strokes. The third over bowled by Ali Khan saw four boundaries racing to the fence, prompting captain Patel to opt for the left-arm spin of Harmeet Singh who brought in some sense of control before getting rid of Johnson in the last over of the PowerPlay
After having been asked to bat first, Canada threw the first punch. Aaron Johnson set the tone for the innings with a first-ball four off Ali Khan and though the fast bowler pinged him on his helmet in his next over, he continued to attack.
Harmeet Singh, who had played two Under-19 World Cups for India and represented Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, however, slowed Canada down when he had Johnson toe-ending a catch to mid-off for 23 off 16 balls. Johnson’s opening partner, Navneet Dhaliwal, though pushed on to score a half-century, the first for Canada in a T20 World Cup. He added a 62-run stand for the third wicket with Nicholas Kirton, who slammed a fifty of his own.
On what was a good deck, the runs continued to flow. Opener Navneet Dhaliwal took up the mantle of scoring runs after a sluggish start and brought up a 36-ball fifty, his first in a World Cup. Even though Canada lost Pargat Singh to a run-out in the eighth over, Dhaliwal didn’t take his foot off the pedal before he was caught off Corey Anderson’s first ball of the match, at long-off. But he had done the hard work to take Canada through these middle overs, his intent and aggression rubbing onto Nicholas Kirton later in that 62-run partnership.
Anderson takes pace off as Shreyas Movva quickfire 32 guides Canada to 194 for 5
A 28-ball fifty ensued for Kirton and he found ample support from Shreyas Movva, who hammered 32* runs from 16 balls in a cameo that took Canada closer to the 200-run mark but this was also a phase of the match where Canada lagged behind a bit given the pristine batting conditions and a very fast outfield on offer. A four-run 18th over bowled by Ali Khan, which also saw a well-set Kirton depart, of course didn’t help matters and a combined tally of 35 runs in the final two overs, including 21 in the last, could only offset so much damage.
Anderson, the former New Zealand allrounder, became the fifth player to represent two different teams at the T20 World Cup after Roelf van der Merwe (South Africa and Netherlands), Dirk Nannes (Netherlands and Australia), David Wiese (South Africa and Namibia) and Mark Chapman (Hong Kong and New Zealand). He marked the occasion with a clever spell full of cutters into the Dallas pitch.
He was introduced into the attack in the 15th over and struck with his very first ball to dismiss Dhaliwal. He went onto bowl the 17th and 19th overs to come away with 3-0-29-1. Fourteen of his 18 balls were slower, according to ESPNCricinfo’s logs, and those variations helped USA restrict Canada to a sub-200 total. Anderson later shared the winning moment with Jones and the Dallas crowd.
There’s a bit of Nicholas Pooran about Kirton, especially when he lofts the ball over extra-cover with a bent knee. Kirton got into his groove with sixes off full-tosses from Taylor and Shadley van Schalkwyk. He was also the only Canada batter to have confidently dealt with Corey Anderson. Though Dhaliwal and Kirton fell in a space of three overs, wicketkeeper-batter Shreyas Movva gave the innings the finishing kick with an unbeaten 32 off 16 balls.
Aaron Jones set the tone in the powerplay
USA needed a strong start to be able to chase the most runs they ever had, but their PowerPlay was a dud in hindsight. Steven Taylor fell lbw to Kaleem Sana off the second ball of the innings and Gous, who would later break free in the company of Jones, only managed 21* off 20 in the first six overs. Captain Patel at the other end was faring no better than run-a-ball against a roulette of pace and spin from Canada.
This was the period when the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas lit up and the crowd got involved with their chants. All of it sneaked on you, for you couldn’t have guessed what was in store going by how this phase of play started for the USA. Monank Patel, in trying to break free, edged behind three balls into the seventh over and the next over bowled by captain Zafar went for three runs. Yes, three runs. Aaron Jones was 1 off 5 and Gous was going at run-a-ball when the latter broke free with a six off Nikhil Dutta in the ninth over.
The Aaron Jones-Gous show lits up the opener as USA thrashed Canada
Aaron Jones followed suit in the same over and hit some more in every over that followed en route to his 22-ball fifty, the fastest by a USA batter. And it kept getting from bad to worse for Canada. Jeremy Gordon conceded 33 runs in his third over, the 14th of the innings, the second most runs conceded in a T20 World Cup. And such was its aftermath that Canada allowed a reprieve to the hard-hitting Jones on 65.
On the eve of the T20 World Cup opener, Aaron Jones was asked to describe USA’s style of cricket. Here’s what he had to say: “To be honest I’ll say fearless cricket, positive cricket, smart cricket. I think that’s what we’re really and truly trying to do. We don’t want to regret anything. We want to leave everything out there on the park.”
Aaron Jones embodied that style by clattering an unbeaten 94 off 40 balls with ten sixes. Only Chris Gayle has hit more sixes in an innings in the men’s T20 World Cup.
When Aaron Jones came into bat, USA were 42 for 2 in the seventh over, having lost openers Steven Taylor (0) and Monank Patel (16 off 16). Canada’s seamers got the ball to nip around under lights, but Aaron Jones got stuck into the spinners, hitting finger spinners Saad Bin Zafar and Dutta for 61 off a mere 22 balls. He slog-swept, reverse-swept, and even advanced down the pitch to dominate the spinners.
Aaron Jones showed he could cut it against pace too when he launched Dillon Heyliger for a 103-metre six. Gous, becalmed in the early exchanges, caught fire too when he lined up Jeremy Gordon for 6, 4, 6, 4 in the 14th over, which cost Canada 33 runs.
Gous’ experience complemented Aaron Jones’ big-hitting. Gous was Washington Freedom’s No.1 pick in the inaugural MLC draft and even trained in New South Wales under Burt Cockley, the former NSW seamer and Freedom’s current strength and conditioning Coach. He has also had some T20 exposure in the UAE, having had stints in the T10 and ILT20 leagues. He put all of that to good use in the opening match of the T20 World Cup.
Aaron Jones, the vice-captain, and Andries Gous, the former South African player and current Texas resident, made a mockery of their chase of 195 with a 131-run third-wicket partnership at a whirlwind run rate of 14.29. USA got the job done with seven wickets and 14 balls to spare. Aaron Jones went on a six-hitting spree – he cleared the boundary ten times – and celebrated most of those with animated fist-pumps, which had the crowd chanting: “USA! USA! USA!”
Though Gous holed out for 65 off 46, Aaron Jones fittingly finished the chase with a pair of sixes, off offspinner Nikhil Dutta, and handed USA their fifth successive win over Canada, having beaten them 4-0 in the lead-up to their first-ever World Cup appearance.
With the damage done in the middle overs, it was a matter of time for the USA. Even though Gous holed one to long-off, Jones ensured that the wait wasn’t too long. The 29-year-old right-hander finished the chase with a memorable six over midwicket, helping USA arrive on the biggest stage of them all in some style.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Saad Bin Zafar the loosing skipper said: 194 was a great total. I was pretty happy. We started well but Jones and Gous batted exceptionally well and our bowlers had no chance. Pitch had good bounce and it did get better for batting in the second innings with dew coming in. We missed the line and lengths.
No balls and extras we shouldn’t have given away those. We played an exceptional game overall. Nothing to be sad effort. Good effort from the boys, this is just the start and hope we can do well in the next game.
Monank Patel the winning skipper said: We always we knew he (Aaron Jones) had the game. He played fearless cricket. Really happy to see the crowd in numbers, hope they continue to give us the support. We want to continue the way we play are playing (fearless cricket). We don’t want to change anything whether we play Pakistan or India.
Aaron Jones Player of the Match for 94 of 40 balls said: I don’t think it is easy to put it into words. Happy to get my team over the line. I thought anything under 200 is chaseable. We wanted to play aggressive cricket. I think I go through my process while I practice. To be honest, when my team is under pressure it gets the best out of me.
USA have made a great start to this World Cup that they are co-hosting. They looked down and out for a while in this run chase but Aaron Jones decided to play an outstanding innings. Taylor fell for a nought. Patel couldn’t get going and perished. Gous wasn’t exactly going great and the asking rate shot up with the team only going at 6 per over at the 8-over mark.
Both Gous and Aaron Jones decided to press the accelerator. 19, 14, 10, 15, 20, 33 were scored in the next 6 overs and stun Canada and blow them away. Aaron Jones was the aggressor and recorded the fastest T20I fifty for USA. His slogging, slog-sweeping, leg-side play was at its level best and he played one hell of a counterattacking innings
Both USA and Canada have treated us to a very good game of cricket. The hosts pulled off a great come-from-behind victory. The conditions here seem to have some extra new ball help in second innings, but dew did make batting a lot easier after powerplay, so teams batting first need to take that into consideration when setting targets. Overall, it’s been a pretty good batting wicket. We will learn more about conditions as the tournament wears on. West Indies take on Papua New Guinea for their tournament opener in a few hours from now in Guyana.