One couldn’t have asked for a more electrifying start to this great American experiment. The fireworks came from one of their own players as the U.S.
got off to a flying start in the World Twenty20 Cup. Then mighty West Indies, co-hosting the tournament with the U.S.
, was expected to follow suit, instead it was made to sweat by little-known Papua New Guinea before collecting a hard-earned victory. There were thrills and spills galore on the first weekend and one can expect more pyrotechnics during this month as cricket tries to get a foothold on American soil. This bang-and-bash format of the game has normally seen batsmen hold the upper-hand, but South African speedster Anrich Nortje destroyed that rationale by demolishing Sri Lanka in New York with a haul of four wickets for seven runs in his four overs.
On the first weekend, the talk centred around Aaron Jones, a pocket dynamo who was born in Queens, NY, before moving with his parents to Barbados, where he honed his batting skills. In typical Caribbean fashion, Jones plundered an unbeaten 94 — a figure that included 10 sixes and four fours — as the home team ran away with a comfortable seven-wicket triumph over Canada in the opener. Canada was by no means embarrassed by this result as it posted a huge 194 for five.
In fact, this encounter between the two oldest rivals in the sport was in the balance until Jones turned the game on its head off 40 balls and he received superb support from Andries Gous, who clobbered 65.
