Aaron Jones struck an explosive unbeaten 94 from 40 balls as the United States beat Canada by seven wickets in the opening game of the T20 World Cup on Saturday, local time.
Jones, born in New York but raised in Barbados, bludgeoned the Canadian attack, smashing ten sixes as he changed the momentum of the game in a superb 131-run third wicket partnership with Andries Gous.
Former South Africa Under-19 batter Gous made 65 off 46 balls before he holed out to deep midwicket off Nikhil Dutta, ending a partnership that had taken the Americans from struggling at 42-2 in the seventh over to close to their finish line at 173-3 in the 16th.
Corey Anderson, the former New Zealand all-rounder, came in to accompany Jones who fittingly ended the contest with his 10th sixth of the night, as the hosts crossed the 195-run target with 14 balls to spare.
It was the perfect start to the tournament for the co-hosts, with the crowd at the compact Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas roaring with delight as Jones smashed the Canadian attack around the ground.
“I don’t think it is easy to put it into words,” said Jones, whose 10 sixes are the second most in a T20 World Cup innings behind West Indian Chris Gayle’s 11 against England in 2016.
“With our batting line-up, we knew anything under 200 is chaseable. I go through my processes and I like my power hitting. I know if I get it in the middle, it will go for sure. I like to come in when the team is under pressure, it brings out the best in me.”
Canada, also making their T20 World Cup debut, had set what appeared a challenging target with Navneet Dhaliwal making a well-paced 61 off 44 balls, including six fours and three sixes after opener Aaron Johnson had set the early pace with an aggressive 23 off 16 balls.
Nicholas Kirton maintained the momentum in the back half of the innings with 51 off 31 balls and Shreyas Movva’s 32 off 16 was crucial in getting Canada to what looked to be a strong total in the Group A match with a strong finish.
The USA is co-hosting the tournament with the West Indies with 16 of the group stage games being held in three American venues – South Florida, New York along with Dallas.
India, Pakistan and Ireland are also competing in Group A with two nations qualifying for the Super Eight stage.
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