United States’ Aaron Jones hits a six during the men’s T20 World Cup cricket match between the USA and the West Indies at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados, on June 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
After his side’s loss to West Indies in their Super Eights T20 World Cup clash, USA skipper Aaron Jones said that the team’s campaign has opened the eyes of people worldwide towards the associate cricket and expressed a desire to end the things on high with a victory against defending champions England.
USA will be taking on England in its final Super Eights T20 World Cup clash. After two losses to West Indies and South Africa, the World Cup debutants will not be able to qualify for the next stage of the competition, but have surely won the hearts of cricket fans worldwide with their qualification to Super Eights, which includes a win over former T20 WC champion Pakistan and closely-fought games against 2007 T20 WC champions India and South Africa.
Following the loss, Aaron said that the game against England is important and for him, every game in the US jersey is important. He also talked about how the US’s debut World Cup campaign has been an eye-opener for many.
“I think the game against England is important. For me personally, every time I put on a US jersey, I want to win the game, regardless of who we are playing against.
“I think over the last couple of weeks, starting from winning the series against Bangladesh, it really and truly opened the eyes of everybody in the world, not only for US cricket, but associate cricket in general.”
“And then obviously moving on to beating Pakistan in the World Cup, and then having a close game against India and then a close game against South Africa. People know that associate cricket is on the rise I would say,” he concluded his point.
Speaking on his side’s final game, Aaron said that he does not feel pressure because nobody expected them to come this far in this competition.
“Obviously, we always believed, even before the World Cup started, that we could beat any team in the world. And as I say, every time you put on your jersey and you go and play for your country, you want to win,” stated Jones with optimism.
“So definitely we want to win the game against England and finish well, although we cannot advance in the next round for sure. For me personally, I will go into the game just looking to win the game and doing as best as possible as a team and me personally as well. And then let us see what happens after that,” he signed off.
Coming to the match, West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl first. Andries Gous (29 in 16 balls, with three fours and a six) and Nitish Kumar (20 in 19 balls, with two fours) were the only players to cross the 20-run mark as USA was bundled out for just 128 runs in 19.5 overs.
Roston Chase (3/19), Andre Russell (3/31) and Alzarri Joseph (2/31) were the top bowlers for WI.
In the run chase of 129 runs, Shai Hope (82* in 39 balls, with four boundaries and eight sixes) single-handedly won the game for the Windies, with Nicholas Pooran (27* in 12 balls, with four and three sixes) unbeaten at the other end.
Chase was given the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his top-class spell.
In Group 2, West Indies is at number two with a win and loss, giving them two points. On the other hand, the USA is at the bottom, with zero points and two losses.
Content Source: www.thehindu.com