GRAND PRARIE, Texas (AP) — The long but broken history of cricket in the United States began a new chapter Saturday when USA captain Monank Patel won the toss and chose to bowl in the opening match of the Twenty20 World Cup against Canada.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Patel said. “The US players have all sacrificed over five years to be here.
“It’s great to be able to play this game in front of our home crowd.”
Twenty20 or T20 is cricket’s shortest format, played over about three hours with each team bowling a maximum of 20 overs. Saturday’s match is the first match of World Cup status played in the United States and the USA and Canada are both playing their first World Cup games.
The United States recently won a three-match T20 series against Bangladesh by two games to one and a five game series against Canada 4-0.
While cricket hasn’t planted deep roots in the United States, it has a long history. The United States and Canada played the first ever international cricket match on the grounds of a private home near Broadway, Manhattan in 1844. Canada won the match which was played over three days by 23 runs.
Major League Cricket, a professional series attracting players from all over the world and which also gives US-born players a chance to play professionally, aims to expand cricket’s foothold in North America.
The Grand Prairie Stadium which hosts Saturday’s match is cricket’s new home in the United States. The re-purposed baseball stadium with a capacity of around 7,000 is former home of the Texas Airhogs, located about 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers.
The T20 World Cup will be contested by 20 teams including global superpowers India, Australia and England. The United States and Canada are both drawn in Group A with India, Ireland and Pakistan. The USA qualified for the tournament as co-host with the West Indies while Canada earned its place by winning the Americas qualifying series.
Team USA is captained by Patel, the India-born wicketkeeper-batsman who moved to the United States in 2016 and has played for the national team since 2018. The team includes former New Zealand allrounder Corey Anderson who will become the fifth player to play at a World Cup for two different countries.
Pakistan-born left-arm spin bowler Saad Bin Zafar will lead Canada. Aaron Johnson, the Jamaica-born right-hander, will open the batting for the Canadians with India-born Navneet Dhaliwal. Johnson already has two T20 international centuries to his credit.
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Lineups:
United States: Steven Taylor, Monank Patel (captain), Andries Gous, Aaron Jones, Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Jasdeep Singh, Ali Khan, Saurabh Netravalkar.
Canada: Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva, Dilpeet Bajwa, Saad Bin Zafar (captain), Nikhil Dutta, Dilon Heyliger, Jeremy Gordon, Kaleem Sana.
Umpires: Richard Illingworth, England, and Sharfuddoula, Bangladesh.
TV umpire: Sam Nogajski, Australia. Match referee: Richie Richardson, West Indies.
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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket