Good afternoon sports fans and welcome to another exciting days action at the men’s ICC T20 World Cup. There has been 4 games today, loads of action. So let’s get right into it!
Match 1 between Papau New Guinea and Uganda had the potential to be an exciting little number. Both teams had already played a game and both teams had lost, Uganda receiving a bit of a schooling at the hands of Afghanistan, whereas PNG had put up stiff competition against West Indies.
Uganda won the toss in Guyana and put PNG into bat. After PNG’s strong batting performance against Windies, it was a ballsey move of Uganda to let PNG set. The Cranes plan paid off though, whatever magic PNG had Sunday afternoon had left them by this morning, getting bowled out for just 77. Uganda made that total in 18.2 overs with 3 wickets to spare.
I’m not going to say that this was the greatest game of cricket there ever (although all cricket games are pretty great!) but it was Uganda’s first ever win in a World Cup, give them 20 years they may well be the first African team to win a world championship…….South Africa probably won’t have managed it!
The second game of the day was between Oman and top sandpaper users Australia. Hosted in Barbados the whole cricketing world was holding their breath that justice would prevail and Australia would lose!
Oman took first blood and won the toss opting to bat, smart move from the Omani’s put Australia under pressure and watch them crumble!
Oman’s bowlers were mighty! Cutters, wobble seam, outright pace, all the classics. Marcus Stoinis was restricted to a pitiful 67 and David Warner a, frankly embarrassing 56. Australia dragged themselves to a poor 164 or 5.
Oman were masterful with the bat, Ayaan Khan scoring a beautiful 36 amongst other impressive contributions. However due to favourable conditions for Australia Oman didn’t manage to chase down the Aussie’s, reaching 125 for 9. Make no doubt though, Oman were the better team! 😉.
Game 3 was a proper cracker. My subcontinental team Pakistan Vs co-host USA.
USA started the tournament really well with a tight but convincing win over Canada in the opening game. In cricket, momentum is a big factor, winning is contagious and can create a gravity of its own……..America looked up for this.
Pakistan are a cricketing powerhouse. With 2 of the worlds best batters and 2 of the worlds best bowlers plus a plethora of other talent, they should be able to beat any team in the world. Pakistan have not had a great warm up to the tournament though, losing convincingly to England in a T20 series on the eve of the competition.
Pakistan would have been expecting to win this fixture however and when USA won the toss and put Pakistan into bat I can’t imagine they were to disappointed. Muhammad Rizwan and Babar Azam took up their familiar roles opening for the Falcons but after only 8 balls Rizwan was dismissed for just 9 runs. From there the USA attack eroded Pakistan’s batting taking steady wickets. Azam contributed a vital 44 and Shadab Khan made 40, taking Pakistan to a below par 159 for 7.
Before the match the National anthems were played. The version of the Star Spangled Banner used was an absolute belter, I think it may have been sung live. Now if an old red coat like me found it as rousing as a did, I imagine the American players were thinking about going off to dump some tea in a harbour somewhere! My point is the USA were dead up for this.
The USA’s batter innings swung around like a pendulum! USA were in top, then Pakistan, then it swung back to the states………and so on and so on! Patel, Gous and Jones all did their bit for the bald eagles with a 50, 35 and 36 and when it came down to the last ball, the game was tide………Super over!!
That’s right, the second super over of the tournament. USA batted first and with the help of some wayward bowling from Pakistan managed a very healthy 18. Pakistan, who seem to have lost their heads at this point only managed 13 in reply.
In their first ever meeting in any format the USA, the land of the free and home of the brave, did the near impossible and pulled off famous victory over the mighty Pakistan.
There is a fourth game tonight, Scotland Vs Namibia but I will fill you in on that one tomorrow as well as the headline game Canada Vs Ireland.
And so with that, and with our new kittens going mad in the next room, I’ll say good night.
All the best,
Nick
All The Cricket 
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