Grand Prairie: Aaron Jones hit the ball out of the park again and the United States edged cricket heavyweight Pakistan in a Super Over tiebreaker for one of the biggest upsets at a Twenty20 World Cup.
After a match-winning batting performance in the tournament opener against Canada, Jones was instrumental again Thursday in the dramatic win over 2022 runner-up Pakistan.
Cricket has a long but relatively little-known history in the United States. It’s the national sport in Pakistan, a long-time member of the cricket establishment and a three-time finalist at the T20 World Cup. The star players are highly paid and are household names.
Jones has flown in under the radar.
“It’s a big achievement, beating Pakistan while playing (them) for the first time,” U.S. captain Monank Patel said. “We used the conditions well … kept them to 160, which was chaseable.”
It was a disastrous start for captain Babar Azam’s Pakistan, which is due to meet fierce rival India on Sunday in New York.
“All credit to the USA,” Babar said, adding that the Americans did in their batting, bowling and fielding departments “and that’s why they won.
“We couldn’t capitalize during the first six overs. We took the momentum, but back-to-back wickets hurt us.”
Overshadowed by the tight game in Texas, Scotland moved atop Group B with a five-wicket win over Namibia at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. Namibia posted 155-9 and Scotland reached its winning total with nine balls remaining.
The game in Grand Prairie went the full distance, and more.
Jones, who smashed a 40-ball unbeaten 94 against Canada, once again starred for the tournament co-host when he stretched the game into Super Over with another vital knock of 36 not out off 26.
Off successive deliveries, Jones hit a six off Haris Rauf and then a single before Nitish Kumar’s boundary off the last delivery in regulation tied the scores at 159.
Rauf, Pakistan’s experienced fast bowler, gave away 14 runs off the last six balls in what is known as the “death overs” period.
Pakistan panicked in the Super Over when fast bowler Mohammad Amir, preferred over Shaheen Shah Afridi, conceded 18 runs that included seven runs off wide balls as Jones smashed a boundary against the left-arm seamer.
For the U.S., left-arm fast bowler Saurabh Netravalkar, who grabbed 2-18 off his four overs in regulation, conceded just 13 runs in the Super Over to earn the U.S. its most historic win.
The Americans were on course to stun Pakistan during regulation when skipper Patel hit 50 off 38 balls and together with Andries Gous (35) breezed the home team to 104-1 in 13 overs before Pakistan rallied to dismiss them both and contain the U.S. total to 159-3.
Pakistan’s batting, which has been struggling for a year in the sport’s shortest format, got further exposed against some disciplined U.S. seam bowling and was restricted to 159-7.
Steven Taylor gave the home team a perfect start when he plucked a brilliant one-handed catch inches off the turf to dismiss Mohammad Rizwan in the second over off Netravalkar’s bowling.
The left-arm spin of Nosthush Kenjige (3-30) also troubled Pakistan, which slipped to 26-3 in the fifth over.
Babar (44) and Shadab Khan (40) tried to regain the momentum and combined for a 72-run stand before Kenjige broke through in the 13th over. Shadab was brilliantly caught by Netravalkar at short fine leg and Azam Khan was trapped leg before wicket off the first ball by the left-arm spinner.
Babar, who became world’s leading T20 run-getter and surpassed Virat Kohli’s tally of 4,038 runs, appeared scratchy in his 43-ball knock before he fell lbw to Jasdeep Singh’s delivery in the 16th over as Pakistan slipped to 125-6.
It was only due to Shaheen Shah Afridi’s 23 off 16 balls, including two late sixes, that lifted Pakistan’s total.
Scotland took a point from its opening match against England, which was rained out, and now sits atop Group B with three points, ahead of Australia and Namibia with two. Namibia beat Oman in a Super Over finish to its first match.
Australia plays England on Saturday.
Captain Gerhard Erasmus made 52 from 30 balls and put on 51 for the fifth wicket with Zane Green (28) as Namibia made a 155-9 after choosing to bat.
Erasmus then took 2-14, bowling the eighth and 10th overs, to leave Scotland 69-3 at the midpoint of its innings as the match seemed tilted in Namibia’s favor.
But Berrington and Leask, coming together when Scotland was 73-4 after 11 overs, guided their team to victory.
“A lot of people have come out to watch us and that’s repaid their faith,” Leask said. “I don’t think we’re going to get over that for a while. It’s a helluva feeling.”
Source link
