Confident USA ready to give T20 Super Eight a real chance

The United States opens the Super Eight stage against South Africa in the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup on Wednesday, with American captain Aaron Jones looking more confident than ever.

A win over 2022 finalists Pakistan in the group stage, helping to raise the profile of cricket in the United States, could do that to a team captain.

“To be honest with you, a lot of people don’t really pay attention to American cricket,” Jones said.

“The whole world probably doesn’t know yet how much talent we have here… but I really think on any given day, once we play proper cricket, we believe we can beat any team in the world, for sure.”

The United States advanced to the second round after wins over Canada and Pakistan, with favorite India also advancing from Group A.

The eight teams are divided into two groups with defending champions England and co-hosts West Indies, with the other teams seeded with the United States and South Africa. The other group is undefeated by Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and India – these teams either finished top of their groups or second in the original 20-team tournament.

South Africa have won all four of their group matches, but the Americans can take heart from the fact that the Proteas’ batting has struggled in their last two low-scoring matches against weaker opponents Bangladesh – when they won by four points, and Nepal, whom they beat by a single run.

Despite all the mystery surrounding low-scoring tosses in New York and rainy weather in Florida, the United States sent shockwaves through the cricketing world with back-to-back wins over Canada and Pakistan in Dallas before losing to India in a tricky match. counter in New York.

The rain gods also helped the United States: the tournament co-hosts received a crucial point in their rain-abandoned match against Ireland that knocked out Pakistan. It was the first time that Pakistan, champions in 2009, failed to qualify for the playoffs in the eight editions of the tournament.

The other Super Eight match on Wednesday will see the West Indies take on England at Gros Islet, St Lucia. On Thursday, Afghanistan will face India in Bridgetown, Barbados and Australia will take on Bangladesh in North Sound, Antigua to complete the first round of playoff matches.

All matches of the Super Eight round will be played in the West Indies, then the semi-finals and the final. The championship match of the month-long tournament will take place June 29 at the century-old Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.

Few Americans knew they had a cricket team before Jones made headlines with a total of 95 runs in the opening match against Canada that featured 10 sixes.

“Over the last couple of years we’ve been talking about going to the World Cup, playing more games against full member nations and that sort of thing,” Jones said.

“Obviously, qualifying for the Super Eights is a really good thing… not only for us but for the fans across America. We really appreciate them and the younger generation in America.”