Three history-making wins for U.S. cricket in as many weeks.
The United States national cricket team is on an incredible run.
It began before the World Cup when the U.S. won a series against Bangladesh. It was the first time the U.S. had won an international series against a top-ten globally ranked team and the first time it had won a series against a full member of the International Cricket Council. Full ICC members are permitted to play Test cricket, the highest level of the game that can last up to five days, and only twelve countries are full members.
The U.S. qualified for the ongoing T20 World Cup automatically as one of the host countries. Twenty20 (T20) cricket is a shortened form of the game in which each side gets 20 overs of six balls each; matches last about three hours. Early matches are being played in New York, Texas, and Florida (the semifinals and finals will be in the more cricket-friendly countries of the West Indies). The 20-team tournament begins with group play, and the U.S. had its first match against Canada on June 1.
It looked like it was going to be a massive letdown after the win against Bangladesh. Canada batted first and put up 194 runs, a high score in T20 cricket. The U.S. opening batsman, Steven Taylor, was out for a duck (scored zero runs). Early in the U.S. innings, Canada’s win probability was over 90 percent.
Then Andries Gous and Aaron Jones put together an unbelievable partnership for the U.S. Gous scored 65 runs on 45 balls, and Jones scored 94 on only 40. Jones could have scored more, but the match ended because the U.S. got 197 in the 18th over while Jones was batting. It was the highest run target the U.S. had ever hit in T20 international play and a remarkable come-from-behind win to kick off the World Cup.
The second match was today in Texas, against Pakistan, a cricket powerhouse universally acknowledged. Pakistan’s next scheduled match, against India, was the focus of attention. Playing the U.S. was just a stepping stone along the way.
Except it wasn’t. One of Pakistan’s players was injured, making matters more difficult. But Pakistan still has one of the best opening batsmen in the world in Mohammad Rizwan, and Pakistan was ranked sixth in the world in T20 play.
But Taylor redeemed himself for his batting performance against Canada, making the catch to dismiss Rizwan with only nine runs scored. Pakistani captain Babar Azam scored a plodding 44 runs on 43 balls for the highest run total on the team. U.S. bowler Nosthush Kenjige took three Pakistani wickets, and Saurabh Netravalkar took two and conceded only 18 runs in his four overs. The U.S. held Pakistan to 159 runs and took seven wickets.
That would have been an incredible accomplishment for the U.S. even if they ended up losing. But they batted well too. U.S. captain Monank Patel scored a half-century, 50 runs, before being dismissed. Gous scored 35. And Jones scored 36, again without getting out. With other contributions, the U.S. scored exactly 159 runs in 20 overs, tying Pakistan’s total at the end of regulation.
To decide the winner, the teams played one additional over. The U.S. batted first and put up 18 runs. Jones hit a four-run boundary to start, and Pakistan conceded seven extras, penalty runs for failing to make proper deliveries, in a very sloppy display.
The U.S. tapped Netravalkar to bowl. He got a dot ball, or gave up zero runs, on his first delivery. He conceded a four on the next ball, then an extra on a wide delivery. On the next ball, Kumar made a catch to dismiss the Pakistani batsman and get the U.S. one ball closer to a win. It came down to the last ball, where Pakistan could have extended the match by hitting the ball over the boundary on the fly (similar to a home run), which counts for six runs. But Netravalkar bowled a tough ball to elevate and only conceded a single, giving the U.S. the win.
Three history-making wins for U.S. cricket in as many weeks. With more World Cup to come in the rest of the month and the second season of Major League Cricket coming in July, there are plenty more chances for Americans to become better acquainted with the world’s second most popular sport. The T20 game is fast-paced and action-packed, and it turns out the U.S. is pretty good at it, too.