close
close

The US underdog advances to the 2nd round thanks to a rainy match

Posted on by angelo
The US underdog advances to the 2nd round thanks to a rainy match

Top line

The United States men’s cricket team advanced to the second round of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup after their match against Ireland in Lauderhill, Florida, was canceled due to heavy rain and thunder, opening the paving the way for a shock entry for the team in the “Super 8” round. of the tournament.

Highlights

The United States-Ireland match was scheduled to take place Friday at Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill, Miami, at 10:30 a.m. local time before its cancellation, which sent the United States into the second round of the group stage of the tournament and eliminated Ireland and Pakistan from the competition.

With the match canceled, the match was declared a draw, giving Ireland and the United States one point each for the group stage and bringing the American team’s point total to five, helping the team clinch second place in Group A. behind India and qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

The “Super 8” round divides the final eight World Cup teams into two groups of four: the U.S. group so far includes South Africa and the West Indies, who have won their three matches so far in tournament.

While the rules allow for a shortened game if a dry window sets the stage for persistent rain, wet conditions and standing water in parts of Broward County have made the exception impossible.

Cricket matches are usually played in roofless stadiums, such as Lauderhill, and the playing conditions stipulate that play must be suspended and the pitch must be covered in the event of rain.

Lauderhill is under a flood watch until 8:00 p.m. Friday with temperatures reaching 86 degrees.

Get breaking news text alerts from Forbes: We send SMS alerts so you’re always up to date with the biggest stories making headlines of the day. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here.

Key context

The tournament is the world championship in the “Twenty20” (T20) format, which is both the younger and shorter version of international cricket, with matches typically lasting around three and a half hours. This is the US team’s first-ever appearance at the T20 World Cup, as they received automatic entry to co-host the tournament with Caribbean nations who play under the West Indies cricket banner. Despite not being well-liked, Team USA has had a fairytale run so far. In the first match of the tournament, Team USA defeated Canada convincingly thanks to an excellent batting performance from Aaron Jones. The team’s biggest victory – and one of the sport’s biggest upsets – came on Thursday as they beat cricket powerhouse Pakistan after taking the match to extra time. They lost their third match to India, one of the favorites to win the tournament and the financial powerhouse of the sport, but managed to put up a close fight on an extremely difficult New York pitch.

Tangent

The U.S. team is made up of a mix of players who have played professionally in other countries, including India, Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa. The team’s main star with the bat, however, was Aaron Jones, born in Queens, New York. The team’s bowling attack was led by former India Under-19 and Mumbai player Sarabh Netravalkar, who played a key role in the team’s surprise victory against Pakistan.

Surprising fact

Netravalkar’s exploits brought him into the spotlight both at home and in India. The 32-year-old left-arm bowler, born in Mumbai, works full-time as a “senior technical staff member” at the Oracle Bay Area office. Despite his excellent bowling, even Netravalkar does not seem to have anticipated the United States’ qualification for the second round of the World Cup, as his out-of-office notification on Slack indicates that he would be away from work until to June 17, the same date as during the first round. round ends. His employer doesn’t seem to care about his newfound fame, however, as Oracle has tweeted about his success on the field.

Further reading

US cricket team beats Pakistan in historic upset at T20 World Cup (Forbes)

Team USA could cause even more upset at the T20 Cricket World Cup: Here’s how they could reach the second round (Forbes)