Ongama Gcwabe
WHO would’ve seen this coming, that the US would secure a Super Eight spot in a home cricket World Cup?
The co-hosts were somehow able to sneak into the next phase of the ongoing T20 World Cup with a massive victory over Pakistan, their highlight achievement of the tournament thus far.
The US also came close to knocking India over at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York two weeks ago as they set the former world champions 109 to win and took the game deep, with India winning by seven wickets with 10 balls to spare.
Their victory over Canada in the tournament’s curtain-raiser coupled with an abandoned match against Ireland meant the co-hosts had done just enough to progress to the next phase.
Behind all the success is a group of players from different walks of life, who would not have dreamt of playing alongside each other, or for the US.
In the squad are two South Africa-born cricketers in former Knights all-rounder Shadley van Schalkwyk and batter Andries Gous.
Corey Anderson, the explosive left-handed batter who represented New Zealand in many World Cups, boosts USA’s top-order and brings experience to the batting line-up.
Two former India Under-19 players, Harmeet Singh and Saurabh Netravalkar, also consistently make up USA’s playing XI in the ongoing World Cup and were key to the team’s success throughout.
One of the few US-born players in the squad, Aaron Jones, has been by far the best player in the side as he took the world by storm with a 40-ball 94 against Canada, smashing 10 sixes and four boundaries in his unbeaten knock.
Despite being born in Queens in New York, Jones played almost all his cricket in the Caribbean and played alongside Shai Hope and Jason Holder in the Barbados team.
Jones and his teammates take on South Africa at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua in the first match of the Super Eight phase today (4.30pm start), and the knowledge about the Proteas players that Gous and Van Schalkwyk possess will come in handy as the co-hosts are set to play their first-ever fixture against South Africa.