USA ,19 June :
Match Details:
- Who: USA vs South Africa
- What: ICC T20 World Cup Super Eights
- When: Wednesday, June 19, 10:30 am (14:30 GMT)
- Where: Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda
- How: Follow Al Jazeera’s live coverage
The USA aims to build on their recent success and cause another upset against favorites South Africa at North Sound, Antigua. Entering the Caribbean leg of the tournament as a surprise package, Team USA is determined to continue their impressive run.
“We are not going to go down without a fight,” said coach Stuart Law to Al Jazeera after the USA’s qualification for the Super Eights was confirmed.
The diverse USA squad includes two players of Caribbean origin who have previously played in the region. Aaron Jones, one of these players, believes his side will receive strong support from the local crowd.
“Steven [Taylor] and I have a lot of support in the Caribbean, so we will definitely have some support tomorrow,” Jones said in his pre-match news conference on Tuesday.
Jones, the USA vice-captain who hit the joint highest number of sixes (13) in the group stage, expressed his team’s excitement to compete against the world’s top teams.
“The boys are excited to play against the best teams in the world. We wanted to do that. We’ve been talking about it for the last couple of years. And here we are now, so we’re just going to enjoy our cricket and play fearless cricket all the time.”
South Africa, aware of the threat posed by the Americans, will be cautious. Captain Aiden Markram acknowledged that his team must “be on their best game” against the co-hosts in Wednesday’s match.
“Many people consider the USA a smaller nation, but they have proven otherwise,” Markram told reporters.
With the Super Eight games spread across various Caribbean venues, Markram emphasized the importance of understanding each ground. The Antigua pitch has produced a mix of low- and high-scoring matches, favoring batsmen but also offering assistance to wrist spinners and bowlers with high accuracy and control.
The forecast for this week is cloudy and humid with negligible chances of rain.
While the USA lost their last completed match against India, they gained confidence from their competitive performance against the South Asian powerhouse. The debutants showed grit and control in their historic super over win against Pakistan.
South Africa, one of the four unbeaten teams in the tournament so far, narrowly avoided an upset against Nepal in their last group match.
