Canada 194 for 5 (Dhaliwal 61, Kirton 51, Harmeet 1-27) lost against USA 197 for 3 (Jones 94*, Gous 65, Heyliger 1-19) by seven wickets.
The USA humiliated their rivals Canada in Dallas to herald their arrival at the T20 World Cup.
Vice-captain Aaron Jones and Andries Gous, a former player from South Africa who now resides in Texas, completely destroyed their chase of 195 with a furious third-wicket combination at a run rate of 14.29. USA completed the task with seven wickets remaining and 14 balls remaining.
With a series of six-hitting runs that saw him pass the boundary ten times, Jones animatedly pump his fists in celebration, inspiring the audience to scream “USA! USA! USA!”
Even though Gous scored 65 off of 46, Jones appropriately ended the chase by hitting two sixes off offspinner Nikhil Dutta, giving the USA their fifth straight victory over Canada. Prior to their debut World Cup, the USA had defeated Canada 4-0.
The Jones-Gous show
Before the first T20 World Cup match, Jones was asked to sum up the American cricket team’s approach. “To be honest, I’ll say fearless cricket, positive cricket, smart cricket,” he said. That, in my opinion, is exactly what we’re attempting to accomplish. We wish to have no regrets. Everything should be left outside in the park.
With ten sixes and an undefeated 94 off 40 balls, Jones personified that approach. In the men’s T20 World Cup, only Chris Gayle has hit more sixes in a single innings.
The USA had lost their opening pair, Steven Taylor (0) and Monank Patel (16 off 16), and were 42 for 2 in the seventh over when Jones entered the batting. Under the lights, Canada’s seamers managed to get the ball to swing and seam, but Jones got his hands dirty with the spinners, hammering Saad Bin Zafar and Dutta for 61 off only 22 balls. To control the spinners, he slog-swept, reverse-swept, and even moved forward down the pitch.
When Jones hit Dilon Heyliger for a 103-meter six, he demonstrated his ability to cut it against pace as well. Gous, who had been under pressure in the opening overs, was also under fire when, in the 14th over, he set up Jeremy Gordon for 6, 4, 6, 4, costing Canada 33 runs.
Gous’s background complemented Jones’s powerful delivery. Gous, who was selected first overall by the Washington Freedom in the first MLC draft, even had training in New South Wales under former NSW seamer and current strength and conditioning coach Burt Cockley. Due to his time spent in the T10 and ILT20 competitions, he has also had some T20 exposure in the United Arab Emirates. In the first T20 World Cup encounter, he made full use of all of that.