Build it, and they will come. The great American cricket experiment got underway on Saturday evening, when the US defeated Canada by seven wickets in the opening match of the T20 World Cup at the small ground in Grand Prairie, Texas. And the bells of hell if it weren’t, in its own way, one of the game’s great occasions.
A crowd of about 5,000 people were treated to a brilliant freewheeling innings by American Aaron Jones, a pocket rocket batsman born in Queens and raised in Barbados. Jones hit 10 sixes, one of which came from the ground, in an unbeaten innings of 94 off just 40 balls.
It was an achievement to allow the match to go ahead at all. On the Tuesday before the match, a mini tornado raged here. He pulled out one of the giant screens and ripped out a section of the heavy metal railings around the ground. Since then, they have had four days of heavy rain and flash flooding, and many surrounding towns were without power.
The small team of employees has been working around the clock since then and the entire site is supplied with power by temporary generators. But in the end, the only real problem was that they could have moved a few more tickets. Due to the high prices, there were too many empty seats.
The people who did show up enjoyed a real treat. The US were heavy favorites, having recently won a series against Canada 4-0, and another against Bangladesh 2-1, but their bowlers appeared to be suffering from a few nerves on the first night.
Canada scored 40 runs from the first four overs after being put in to bat. Their opener Aaron Johnson hit Mohammad Ali Khan’s very first ball for four. He scored three more in four balls of Khan’s second over, and another four in byes on a bouncer that ricocheted off his helmet.
Johnson was caught at long range but his opening partner, Navneet Dhaliwhal, persevered. He defeated former India U19 player Harmeet Singh in the first six of the tournament.
Dhaliwhal was joined by Nicholas Kirton in an entertaining 62-run stand for the fourth wicket. Kirton, who has quick hands and a clever drive, hit a couple of crisp sixes over cover. Corey Anderson had Dhaliwhal caught at long-off with the first ball he bowled. Still, Kirton made 51, and the Canadian total of 194 looked quite daunting.
Especially when the USA were 40-1 after the first six overs, with opener Steven Taylor off LBW to the second ball of the innings. But that only brought in Jones. He put on 131 for the third wicket with Andries Gous.
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Jones’ fifty came off just 22 balls. It was a violent turn of events and it threw Canada into turmoil. The match turned in the 14th over when they brought their fast bowler Jeremy Gordon back into the attack. His first two overs cost just 11, but his third was studded with three sixes, two fours, three wides and a catch after a no-ball, and went for 33. The USA romped home from there.
So there were still a few Stetsons in the crowd, there was still a lot of smoked brisket on offer, the stadium announcer had a Southern flair, and if you looked closely, there were one or two clues on the ground that were appropriate for the occasion , such as the scoreboard listing the ‘balls’ and ‘strikes’ box hanging on the balcony, and the Spanish translations on the signage (‘Este Alerta! Cuidado con las pelotas!’). But above all it will go down as a great T20 cricket game, illuminated by Jones’ extraordinary batting.