USA vs CAN | Hosts bring World Cup to life with dynamite batting to triumph in cricket's oldest rivalry

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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The United States of America produced a remarkable turnaround with the bat in the T20 World Cup opener in Dallas to chase down 195 against Canada with 14 balls to spare. Aaron Jones was the highlight act as his unbeaten 94 formed part of a match-winning 131-run stand with Andries Gous.

‌Brief score: USA 195/3 (17.4) [Jones 94*(40), Gous 65(46); Heyliger 1/19 (3)] defeat CAN 192/5 (20) [Dhaliwal 61(44), Kirton 51(31); Harmeet 1/27 (4)] by seven wickets

Hard-hitting opener Aaron Johnson ensured Canada's maiden T20 World Cup campaign got off to a flying start with a cracking drive through extra cover for four. The 33-year-old combined with Navneet Dhaliwal for seven boundaries in a 43-run stand before succumbing to Harmeet Singh in the final over of the powerplay, the score eventually reading 50/1 after six overs. When another scalp followed soon after in the form of an unfortunate run-out of Pargat Singh, Dhaliwal stepped on the accelerator and Nicholas Kirton ably reciprocated the approach from the other end. The duo added 66 runs to Canada's tally off just 35 deliveries, bringing up the first two individual half-centuries of the tournament respectively, before handing over the reins to Shreyas Movva for the death overs. The wicket-keeper obliged with a scintillating unbeaten cameo of 32 at a strike rate of 200, taking Canada to a mammoth total of 194/5 in their 20 overs.

In response, USA's run chase got off to a disastrous start as Kaleem Sana trapped the in-form Steven Taylor plumb in front of the stumps for a silver duck. With the Kookaburra hooping around under lights, the hosts were restricted to a subpar powerplay score of 41/1 and the situation was exacerbated further by skipper Monank Patel capitulating to the pressure three balls later for a run-a-ball 16. However, just when the required run rate crept over 12 with as many overs to go, Aaron Jones and Andries Gous switched gears to rain hail marys on a helpless Canadian attack. The duo struck 10 maximums in the next six overs to aggregate over 100 runs, bringing up their fifties off 39 and 22 balls respectively. Even when Jeremy Gordon finally managed to break through, the wicket was struck down by a no-ball call which proved to be the final nail in the coffin. By the time Gous holed out in the 16th over to snap the 55-ball 131-run stand, the requirement had dwindled to less than six an over and the hosts thereafter trotted home to their highest-ever T20I chase with 14 balls to spare.

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