Tag: Canada

DALLAS: Aaron Jones played a scintillating 94-run knock to power the United States of America (USA) to victory against Canada in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 opener here at Grand Prairie Stadium on Saturday.

Chasing 195, the USA won the match by seven wickets with 14 balls to spare.

The home team lost the first wicket on the second ball of their pursuit as Kaleem Sana dismissed Steven Taylor.

Andries Gous joined skipper Monank Patel (16) and together they added 42 runs for the second wicket before the latter got caught behind off Dilon Heyliger.

With 153 required off 81 balls, Jones came down to the crease and joined a settled Gous.

However, they turned things around with their belligerent hitting, scoring 131 runs for the third wicket in only 58 balls.

The partnership was dominated by Jones, who smashed Canadian bowlers all across the park, while Gous scored a 46-ball 65, featuring seven boundaries and three sixes.

Jones continued the onslaught after Gous’ wicket, ending the game in the 18th over with a massive six over the deep midwicket boundary.

The right-handed batter smashed ten sixes, during his entertaining innings of 94 runs from 40 balls. He also hit four boundaries.

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Canada’s Kaleem Sana, Dilon Heyliger and Nikhil Dutta bagged one wicket each.

Earlier, Canada were invited to bat first by the USA and had a stable start with a 43-run opening stand between Aaron Johnson and Dhaliwal.

Johnson scored 23 off 16 with the help of five boundaries before falling to Harmeet Singh in the last over of the powerplay.

Meanwhile, Pargat Singh got run out with 66 runs on the board. Kirton then joined Dhaliwal and together they constructed a blistering third-wicket partnership of 62 runs in just 37 balls.

Corey Anderson broke the partnership with the wicket of Dhaliwal, who top-scored for Canada with 61 off 44. The opening batter struck six boundaries and three sixes.

Kirton continued his strokeplay, scoring 51 runs from 31 balls with the help of five boundaries, including two sixes before Ali Khan ended his stay at the crease.

Shreyas Movva gave a finishing touch to the innings with an unbeaten 32 off 16, laced with two sixes and two boundaries to push the team’s total to 194-5 in 20 overs.

For the USA, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh and Corey Anderson claimed one wicket each.

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Canada have announced a 15-member squad under the leadership of all-rounder Saad Bin Zafar for their maiden ICC T20 World Cup campaign.

The squad comprises only three players aged under 30 – all-rounders Harsh Thaker, Nicholas Kirton, and Dilpreet Bajwa.

30-year-old Kanwarpal Tathgur, who has featured in eight only List A games and is yet to play an official T20 match, is also selected for the mega-event.

Guyana-born seamer Jeremy Gordon, who had made his debut for Canada in 2012, earned a recall into the Canada line-up along with 39-year-old all-rounder Junaid Siddiqui.

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Siddiqui last represented Canada in February 2022, meanwhile, batter Ravinderpal Singh, who also last played in 2022, is back in the side.

Canada will kick off their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against co-hosts United States of America (USA) in the tournament opener in Dallas.

Canada squad for T20 World Cup

Saad Bin Zafar (c), Aaron Johnson, Dilon Heyliger, Dilpreet Bajwa, Harsh Thaker, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur (wk), Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh, Rayyankhan Pathan and Shreyas Movva (wk)

Reserve players: Tajinder Singh (travelling), Aaditya Varadharajan, Ammar Khalid, Jatinder Matharu and Parveen Kumar

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Former New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson has been selected in the squad of the United States of America (USA) on Friday for the home T20 series against Canada.

The 33-year-old all-rounder, who last played for New Zealand in 2018 before moving to the USA in 2020, is set to make his debut for his adopted country.

Corey Anderson became eligible to represent the USA in international cricket last year.

He played 13 Tests, 49 ODIs and 31 T20Is for New Zealand since making his debut in 2013, scoring over 2000 runs and taking 90 wickets across formats.

He was also part of New Zealand’s squad in the ICC World Cup 2015, where they reached the final for the first time, but lost to co-hosts Australia.

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The five-match T20I series between the USA and Canada will be played in Houston, Texas from Houston, Texas.

Monank Patel will continue to lead the USA, while Aaron Jones will serve as vice-captain of the team.

“With the ICC T20 World Cup looming, this series holds immense significance for our team,” Monank said in a USA Cricket statement.

“We have some new players coming into the squad, and these games will help us get the right combinations and prepare well for the World Cup.”

USA squad for the T20I series against Canada

Monank Patel (c), Aaron Jones (vice-capt), Andries Gous, Corey Anderson, Gajanand Singh, Harmeet Singh, Jessy Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Noshtush Kenjige, Saurabh Netravalkar, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor, Usman Rafiq

Reserves: Juanoy Drysdale, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Shayan Jahangir

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BRAMPTON: Montreal Tigers booked their place into the final of the ongoing GT20 Canada, edging Vancouver Knights in Qualifier 2 by one wicket, courtesy explosive batting of Sherfane Rutherford and l Abbas Afridi five-for which included a hat-trick.

In the Qualifier 2 clash of GT20 Canada, Tigers put Knights into bat after winning the toss and bowled tight lengths from the start to keep Knights’ batters under check. They lost their first wicket in the 6th over at the score of 33.

Corbin Bosch joined Mohammad Rizwan and together they added 57 runs for the second wicket. They appeared firm on the crease before Abbas Afridi came back into the attack and stopped them in their tracks with a hat trick.

Abbas Afridi removed Corbin Bosch (36 off 28) with a good catch by Mohammad Waseem. Captain Rassie van der Dussen was then trapped leg before wicket. Najibullah Zadran also followed his captain, as he was caught behind by Srimantha Wijeyeratne.

Knights had their hopes intact with Mohammad Rizwan on the crease but he fell to Aayan Afzal Khan on the first ball of the next over.

After losing four wickets on consecutive deliveries, Harsh Thaker’s sensible knock of 26 off 21 helped the Knights reach a modest total of 137 runs in 20 overs for six wickets.

Abbas Afridi added another feather in his cap with the wicket of Fabian Allen to complete his five-fer.

Click to watch GT20 Canada Live on ARY ZAP

Tigers had a dismal start to their pursuit as four men walked back to the pavilion with only 29 runs on board.

However, Sherfane Rutherford spearheaded the run chase, adding 43 runs with Dipendra Singh Airee for the fifth wicket.

Airee was bowled by Corbin Bosch to break the flow of runs. Andre Russell and Carlos Brathwaite joined Rutherford but both went back to the pavilion adding only 25 runs.

Knights’ kept picking wickets to mount pressure on Tigers’ but they had no answer to Rutherford’s onslaught.

Needing 15 off the last over, Rutherford hit three consecutive sixes off Rayyan Pathan to guide his team to a memorable last-wicket triumph. Rutherford scored 48 off 34, with the help of two boundaries and three aforementioned sixes.

Junaid Siddique picked four wickets for 22 runs, while Fabian Allen and Corbin Bosch picked two wickets each in the losing cause.

Montreal Tigers will face the winners of Qualifier 1 Surrey Jaguars in the final of GT20 Canada tonight in Brampton.

READ: Surrey Jaguars storm into the GT20 final as Knights falter