Day 1 of the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup had two games in store for us as the US hosted Canada, while the West Indies kick-started their tournament against Papa New Guinea (PNG).
The US ended up winning this contest by seven wickets after a display of clean hitting by Aaron Jones, who scored 94 of just 40 balls. He was helped out by Andries Gous, who managed 65 of 46 deliveries.
Canada were the first team to bat in this match and put up an impressive 194 after some effective batting from Navneet Dhaliwal. He scored 61 runs in 44 balls, while Shreyas Movva finished the job with a quick-fire 32, striking at 200.
The chase was fairly tricky at the start after the US found themselves 42/2 midway through the seventh over. But Jones’ power-hitting, matched with excellent timing, ensured that his team chased down the total before the end of the 18th over.
First innings: Canada 194/5 in 20 overs
Second innings: USA 197/3 in 17.4 overs
The game between the West Indies and PNG proved to be much closer than many would’ve expected before the start of the match. Eventually, the hosts crossed the finishing line after a smart bit of death batting by Roston Chase and Andre Russell.
PNG were put into bat and found it tricky to navigate the powerplay because of the nature of the surface and some canny bowling from Akeal Hosein. Sese Bau was the standout batter, who managed 50 of 43 and helped his team get to just about a defendable score of 136.
In return, the Windies struggled early on, losing Johnson Charles in the second over. After Nicholas Pooran and Brandon King steadied the ship, captain Assad Vala and John Kariko pulled the game back through some effective overs of spin in the middle overs. Vala ended up with figures of 2/28, while the aforementioned left-arm orthodox picked up one wicket and conceded just 17 runs in his quota of four overs.
With 40 needed in the last four overs of the game, it was Chase and Russell who kept cool heads and got the job done with an over to spare. Chase scored 42 of 27, while his partner at the other end racked up 15 in nine deliveries.
First innings: PNG 136/8 in 20 overs
Second innings: WI 137/5 in 19 overs
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