If you build it, they will come. American cricket’s great experiment began on Saturday night, when the United States beat Canada by seven wickets in the opening match of the T20 World Cup at a small stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas. And hell’s bells would ring if that, in its own small way, wasn’t one of the game’s great moments.
A crowd of about 5,000 enjoyed a freewheeling, brilliant innings from Aaron Jones, the Queens-born, Barbados-raised pocket rocket batsman from the United States, who scored 94 runs off just 40 balls, smashing 10 sixes, one of which was cleanly hit off the ground, in an unbeaten innings.
Just hosting the game was a feat. A small tornado struck the area on the Tuesday before the match, destroying one of the giant screens and blowing away part of the heavy metal fence surrounding the field. Since then, there have been four days of heavy rain and flooding, and many surrounding towns remain without power.
A small team of staff have been working around the clock since then, and temporary generators provide power for the whole ground, but in the end, the only problem was that they could have sold more tickets – the high prices meant there were too many empty seats.
The crowd was having a great time. The USA were the overwhelming favourites after recent wins over Canada 4-0 and Bangladesh 2-1, but their bowlers seemed to be struggling with first-day jitters.
Canada put in the batting and scored 40 runs in their first four overs. Canada’s opener Aaron Johnson got Mohammed Ali Khan for four off his first ball. He then got three more runs off a four in Khan’s second over and four more on a bye off a bounce ball that hit him off the helmet.
Johnson was caught at long-off but his opening partner Navneet Dhaliwal continued to attack, smashing his first six of the tournament off former India Under-19 player Harmeet Singh.
Dhaliwal partnered Nicholas Kirton for an entertaining 62-run stand for the fourth wicket. Kirton, with his quick hands and superb drives, smashed two brilliant sixes over the covers. Corey Anderson had Dhaliwal caught at long-off with the first ball. Still, Kirton scored another 51 and Canada’s total of 194 was looking quite formidable.
Notably, the US were 1 for 40 after the first six overs when opener Steven Taylor was run out LBW off the second ball of the innings, but this only served to spark Jones, who, along with Andries Guth, scored 131 for the third wicket.
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Jones’ fifty came in just 22 balls, a ferocious attack that left Canada unsettled. The match turned around in the 14th over, when Canada brought fast bowler Jeremy Gordon back into the attack. He was worth 11 in his first two overs, but in the third he hit 33 for six, four, three wides and a no-ball catch. The Americans went on to win the game comfortably.
There were a few more Stetson hats in the crowd, smoked brisket was on sale in great numbers, the stadium announcer spoke with a Southern accent, and there were clues to the occasion, like the scoreboard hanging from the balcony listing the “balls” and “strikes” boxes, Spanish translations on the signs (“Este Alerta! Cuidado con las pelotas!”) and one or two around the ground. But primarily, the game will be remembered as a great match of T20 cricket, highlighted by Jones’s outstanding batting.
