In the 49th match of the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, England will take on the United States of America at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados.
This will be an extremely important fixture, considering how Group 2 of the Super 8 stage has opened up a three-way battle for semi-final qualification. England is currently third in that race, behind South Africa and West Indies, but such is the nature of the group that they can be in first place after this match.
On the other hand, there is nothing much that the USA can do, as they are already eliminated from that race. However, they can be very proud of their journey so far into this competition, and before going out, they could do a massive favor to South Africa and West Indies.
What has happened so far?
England might still very much be in the race to qualify for the semi-final, but the defending champions will not be happy with how they have performed so far. In the first match against Scotland which got washed out due to rain, England’s bowlers were taken for a ride.
Then in the second match against Australia, both batting and bowling misfired as they were handed a 36-run defeat. They finally got a win then they handed Oman an 8-wicket thrashing in the third match, while after that, they defeated Namibia by 41 runs.
England’s Super 8 journey started with an 8-wicket win over West Indies, but they could not extend their winning run, as in their last fixture, South Africa handed them a 7-wicket defeat.
As for the USA, they defeated Canada by 7 wickets in the first match, thanks to Aaron Jones’ explosive batting. But the real shock came in their second match, where they defeated former champions Pakistan in the Super Over.
Since then, the co-hosts have not won any matches. They lost by 7 wickets against India, while the match against Ireland was washed out. In the Super 8 stage, they lost against South Africa by 18 runs and West Indies by 9 wickets.
Head to Head Record
This will be the first time England and the USA will lock horns in this sport, as they have never met previously in any format.
Key Players
Phil Salt is currently England’s highest run-scorer
Phil Salt (England): England is fortunate to have a team packed with power hitters, but that one particular batter who has form on his side is Phil Salt. The wicket-keeper batter came into this competition on the back of a superb Indian Premier League outing, where he played many match-winning knocks for champions Kolkata Knight Riders.
In this tournament, Salt has scored 158 runs in 5 innings at an average of 39.50 and a strike rate of nearly 180, which makes him the highest run-scorer for his team. Salt’s time in the T20 World Cup started off with a 37-run knock against Australia. He could not fire up against Oman and Namibia but showed his class in the match against West Indies, where he scored 87 runs in just 47 balls, hitting 7 fours and 5 sixes.
Andries Gous (USA): When it comes to the USA team, the talk of the world has been about full-time engineer and part-time cricketer Saurabh Netravalkar. However, a closer look at the statistics will tell us it is Andries Gous who has been the best performer for the team so far.
The South Africa-born opener has scored 211 runs in 5 innings at an average of over 50 and a strike rate of 150+. Not only is he the highest run-scorer for his team, but also the second-highest run-scorer overall.
Gous’ journey started with a 65-run knock against Canada, while he scored 35 against Pakistan. His only bad game was against India, where he scored 2 runs, but he came back with a superb 47-ball 80 against South Africa. Gous scored 29 runs in the last match against West Indies.
Predicted XIs
England: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler © (wk), Harry Brook, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran/Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Reece Topley.
USA: Steven Taylor, Andries Gous (wk), Nitish Kumar, Aaron Jones ©, Corey Anderson, Milind Kumar, Harmeet Singh, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Nosthush Kenjige, Ali Khan, Saurabh Netravalkar.
Prediction
There is no doubt that the USA team has pleasantly surprised the cricket world with their performances, but considering the gulf in class and quality, they are not expected to stand any chance against England. The Three Lions will start this game as the firm favorites.