BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):
The sport’s oldest rivalry between co-hosts United States, and northern neighbours Canada will get the ball rolling in the biggest ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup today at 7:30 p.m. (Jamaica time).
The Americans and Canadians met in the first international cricket match 180 years ago, and it is fitting that they are set to renew that rivalry at the Grand Prairie Stadium in the American city of Dallas in the state of Texas in the first major International Cricket Council (ICC) event to be held in part in the United States.
The month-long global showpiece of the most explosive format of the sport features 20 teams split across four groups, and it offers teams such as the United States and Canada a chance to shine against all the usual contenders.
United States vice-captain Aaron Jones, a former Barbados Pride batsman, said the co-hosts were determined to play a “fearless” brand of the sport in a bid to advance to the Super Eight quarterfinals out of Group A’.
“Fearless cricket, positive cricket, smart cricket,” he said. “I think that’s what we’re really and truly trying to do.
“We don’t want to regret anything. We want to leave everything out there in the park. And then, obviously, if we come out on top, it’s great. If we don’t come out on top, that’s how cricket goes sometimes. But we don’t want to regret anything.”
The United States and Canada have been drawn in a group that also features political and sporting rivals, India and Pakistan, as well as Ireland, a side that has similarly emerged from the ICC associates’ list to now duke it out with the “big boys”.
Both the United States and Canada are making their debut appearance at a men’s T20 World Cup, with the Americans qualifying as co-hosts, while Canada qualified ahead of Bermuda through the Americas Regional Final with a superior run rate.
Canada captain Saad Bin Zafar offered a similar sentiment to Jones about the style of play that they plan to adopt in the tournament.
“I think we want to play fearless cricket,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of pressure on our shoulders. I think we just want to go and express ourselves and play to our potential. And that’s the brand of cricket that we’re looking to play.
“We’ve had some great competitive cricket over the past few years against the United States. We have had a lot of games that have ended up in super overs, so we’re hoping that we can play entertaining cricket.”
The Americans have won four of their seven men’s T20Is against Canada, including a 4-0 series win when the sides met in April, and will start as favourites.
The co-hosts could not have wanted a better place to start the tournament, having won six of their seven T20Is at Grand Prairie, where they mounted their highest T20I total of 230 against the Canadians on April 9.
The West Indies play their opening match tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. against minnows Papua New Guinea at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.