After the co-hosts overcame a scare to defeat their rivals Canada in Texas, Aaron Jones blasted ten sixes in an incredible 94 not out.
Aaron Jones is the player of the game.
It's difficult to describe in words. It's a fierce rivalry, and Canada always comes out swinging against us. I'm just glad to see my side win. Since the outfield is quick and the wicket is superb, I've always believed that anything under 200 is chaseable. Tonight, we won because we supported ourselves to play aggressive cricket. In practice, I enjoy power-hitting and backing myself when I'm in the middle. When my team is facing some pressure, I enjoy taking the field because it brings out the best in me. I've played that part for several years. I'm really glad my team won the game; I had a wonderful innings tonight.
With just 40 balls, Aaron Jones amassed an incredible 94 runs without losing, smashing ten sixes in one of his best innings ever. And it took him till his fifth delivery to hit the mark. The USA won easily, but after a sluggish start to the inning, they were in big trouble when Jones entered the game. Everything changed with the angst-filled first over of Nikhil Dutta.
USA WIN BY SEVEN WICKETS
The game is quickly concluded by the amazing Aaron Jones. After palming the ball over the rope by the fielder, he reverse-sweeps Dutta for four, slog-sweeps the next ball for six, and completes the feat with another slog-sweep. What a fantastic inning!
USA 181-3 in the 17th over (Jones 78, Anderson 3). Anderson fumbles to go to ground as Dhaliwal's throw misses the stumps. He would have likely been at home. Kaleem Sana snakes through the keeper for two byes on a wide. His outstanding opening over seems like a long time ago. USA needs 18 balls to score 14 runs.
USA 174-3 in the 16th over (Jones 76, Anderson 1)
USA 173-3 (Gous c Johnson b Dutta 65) WICKET!
Glue toe ends Dutta finished with a fantastic supporting innings of 65 from 46 balls by going long. For Canada, it's too little, too late.
USA 167-2 in the 15th over (Gous 65, Jones 71) Canada, poor Canada, is in ruins. Dutta gives up a rather easy chance to Jones when he top-edges the ball over the keeper's head. I guess he's made his own luck with his incredible barrage of brain-melting pressure on Canada. Out of the past 26 balls, he has made 70 and 71 from 31 balls.
USA scored 33 in a single over!
USA 159-2 in the 14th over (Gous 64, Jones 63). In Texas, the USA is stomping to triumph. Jeremy Gordon was on a terrible 11-ball over that vanished for 33. Gous began by hitting Gordon for six and four to raise his score to a composed fifty off of 39 balls. He was caught at square leg off a no-ball after he made it through a frantic referral for a leg-side catch.
Jones hit his eighth six and would have hit his ninth had the replacement fielder not made an incredible leaping stop on the boundary. It didn't matter; Gous cut four over the short third man and hammered six more over the long on. With that head-high full toss from Nikhil Dutta, the USA began an exciting run of 111 from the last six overs.
USA 126-2 in the 13th over (Gous 43, Jones 56). In just 22 balls, Jones achieves a thrilling half-century with a single, setting a new American record. With another powerful slog-sweep, he makes it three sixes in the over and seven in his innings, and he shows no signs of slowing down. He's chosen the greatest day of his life to play the innings. The USA are the favorites and need 69 from 42 balls.
12.2 overs: United States 118-2 (Jones 49; Gous 42) By alone, Jones is winning this game. He takes Zafar's opening two deliveries for six wickets, the second of which is a 99-meter slog sweep. This implies a brief pause in action while they select a new ball. With his previous 16 balls, Jones has smashed 48 runs.
USA 106-2 in the 12th over (Gous 42, Jones 37). Aaron Jones is hitting.476 right now. The crowd yells "USA! USA! USA!" as he rocks back to pull Pargat Singh's first ball for six. Gous's four-yard bomb helped the US score another significant run. An unnecessary coup indicates that pressure is now reaching Canada. They truly require a wicket.
11th over: Jones 29 and Gous 35 for USA, 91-2. A mix-up with Jones leaves Gous stranded mid-pitch, but a misfield lets him recover. These days, Jones has just hit Heyliger for a massive six over midwicket. That emerged from the earth. In the last three overs, the USA has scored 43 runs, mostly thanks to Jones' bat.
USA 81-2 in the tenth over (Gous 33, Jones 21). After a daring but ultimately well-executed shot in which Jones reverse sweeps Zafar over short third man for four, Jones dances down the track to smash a magnificent six over wide long-on. He made one run off of his first five balls and got off to a very poor start. In the following seven balls, he has hit twenty. This is America's comeback. They have 60 balls and need 114.
USA 67-2 in the ninth over (Jones 8, Gous 33) Nikhil Dutta, the offspinner, gets off to an incredibly anxious start as he gives up 19 in this first over. He throws the ball high and full to start, which results in a free hit and no ball. Gous gets another free hit after a wide, sending the ball down the field for six. The dew may be causing Dutta's difficulty grasping the ball, but the USA don't seem to care. Jones converts a large over into a massive one with another six slog sweeps. Perhaps that will make this run-chase feel different.
USA 48-2 (Gous 24, Jones 1) in the eighth over After winning the toss, Monank would undoubtedly bat first if he could go back in time. The USA are obviously feeling the pressure of trying to set a record, and their task has been much more difficult following a close over from Saad Bin Zafar. Now, the necessary rate exceeds 12. The clear favorite is Canada.
7th over: Jones 0, Gous 23 for USA 45-2 Heyliger's excellent opening delivery beats Aaron Jones. No one else showed any interest in watching the goalie Movva go up for caught behind. When a full inswinger hits Jones on the pad, Heyliger lets out a choked LBW yell; the shot would have missed leg stump.
USA 42-2 (Heyliger 16 c Heyliger c Monank)
Heyliger beats Monank with a bit of extra bounce. It feels like the ball has done more for the seamers under lights, both vertically and horizontally. And now Monank has gone! He charged Heyliger, smeared across the line and got a thin edge through to the keeper.
That wicket was a result of the previous ball and the pressure that Canada have applied. The USA are in serious bother here.
USA 41-1 in the sixth over (Monank 16, Gous 21) The captain of Canada, Saad Bin Zafar, enters the game to provide his left-arm spin. He's primarily darting it in from around the wicket when I yell "spin." Following a few close calls, Gous delivers a cut blow for four. The Powerplay ends at that point. At the same point, Canada was 50-1.
USA 34-1 in the fifth over (Monank 15, Gous 15) Dilon Heyliger produces a solid opening over to maintain pressure on the USA. Despite giving up a wide early on, he only gave up four runs. USA must get 161 out of 90 balls. They appear incapable of stopping themselves from thinking the unimaginable at the moment, having won all four of their T20 international matches against Canada this year.
USA 29-1 in the fourth over (Monank 12, Gous 14) Gordon's jaffa straightens off middle stump, turning Monank around and beating him. Gordon errs onto leg stump and is out for four as Gous abandons his intended offensive stroke in favour of an equally nice ball. At last, Gous chips a very full outswinger just short of mid-on. Gordon appears to be a very uncomfortable customer, particularly when the ball is traveling in a sideways motion. Here, the USA are a little inconvenienced.
USA 24-1 in the third over (Monank 11, Gous 10) Monank thrashes a very wide delivery from Kaleem Sana over backward point for four. Later in the over, he gets a more fortunate boundary when he inside-edges past stump and smashes the final delivery, which is short of mid-off. Even if it had carried, it would have required some catching due to the force of the blow.
USA 10-1 (Monank 1, Gous 9) in the second over Jeremy Gordon, a tall quick bowler, shares the fresh ball. Within the first three deliveries, he dismisses both hitters, Gous cuts for four with force and efficiency, and Gordon then bowls a brilliant delivery that hits Monank!
Monank regained the upper hand and was able to force the bowler to miss a difficult low chance with his follow through. I believe that at least applied to Gordon. That was what his body language implied, but perhaps it bounced a little too short. There isn't a replay available yet.
USA 4-1 in the first over (Monank 0, Gous 4) Several deliveries from Kaleem defeated the new hitter, Andries Gous. The Canada captain and keeper speak with umpire Richard Illingworth, probably regarding something that was mentioned to Gous. To get the USA going, Gous pulls the last ball to the midwicket boundary. With the necessary run rate exceeding 10 an over, they are already under extreme pressure.
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