North Sound [Antigua and Barbuda], June 19 (ANI): USA batter Aaron Jones has vowed that the co-hosts will continue to play “fearless” cricket in the Super 8 of the ongoing T20 World Cup.
In Group A, the USA were one of the least favourites to qualify for the next stage with the likes of India, Pakistan, and Ireland featuring in the group.
The USA went on to beat Canada and pulled off a staggering upset over Pakistan. Rain washed out their clash against Ireland and booked their spot in the next round.
The likes of Monank Patel, Jones, Andries Gous and Saurabh Nethralvakar have produced standout performances for the USA.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has already suggested that a game could go either way and affirmed that the side will continue with the same mentality.
“The boys are happy, the boys are excited to play against the best teams in the world. We wanted to do that (come in with energy). We’ve been speaking about that over the last couple of years. And here we are now. We’re just going to enjoy our cricket and, as I said (before matchday one), play fearless cricket all the time,” Jones said as quoted from ICC.
“I think it starts with the belief that we could beat anybody,” Jones added, speaking on the side”s mentality.
The success of the USA was foreshadowed during the build-up to the marquee event. They defeated Bangladesh in a three-match T20I series by 2-1 to establish themselves as a strong unit.
For the USA, it has resulted from the process they have followed over the past couple of years – learning from each defeat.
“Even before the World Cup we’ve had a few series, and obviously everybody knows we came out on top against Bangladesh, who are a really good team, to be honest. We always believed before the World Cup that we could beat bigger teams or better teams, and obviously we showed it against Pakistan,” he said.
“It’s going to be the same mindset going into the Super Eights now. We want to play hard cricket and if you come out on top it’s good, if you don’t come out on top, then we learn,” Jones stated.
The USA and South Africa will square off against each other on Wednesday at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
USA T20 WC squad: Monank Patel (c), Aaron Jones, Andries Gous, Corey Anderson, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh, Jessy Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Noshtush Kenjige, Saurabh Nethralvakar, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir.
Reserve Players: Gajanand Singh, Juanoy Drysdale, Yasir Mohammad.
South Africa T20 WC squad: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs. (ANI)
