T20 World Cup: Co-hosts USA became the latest team to enter the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup after their final group stage match against Ireland was washed out on Friday. USA vice-captain Aaron Jones expressed his elation on the feat and also alerted teams of their threat heading into the second round of the tournament.
In Group A, India and USA have advanced to the Super Eight stage while Pakistan, Ireland and Canada have been eliminated from the T20 showpiece.
USA toppled Pakistan and Canada in their group matches and only lost to Asian giants India to stay in contention for the top spots. They finished the group stage with five points in four matches, only behind toppers India.
"Yeah, I definitely believed that earlier this year when I spoke about it (on winning games in T20 World Cup). To be honest with you, a lot of people don't really pay much attention to US cricket. So probably the whole world don't already know how much talent we have here and how good the players that we have here are. I think that could be a little advantage to us, but definitely I think that on any given day, once we play proper cricket, we believe that we can beat any team in the world for sure," Jones said in the post-match press conference.
"As a cricketer, me coming to the ground today, and the boys coming to the ground today, I think that you don't want to leave home and not play cricket. That's for me personally, I want to play. But at the end of the day, the rain… it's nothing that we can control. So we are grateful that we got to the Super Eights. But we left the hotel this morning thinking about playing cricket, we wanted to play cricket," he added.
In the Super Eight, the USA have been placed in Group 2 with South Africa and West Indies while Bangladesh, England, Scotland and the Netherlands are fighting for the final spot.
Jones expressed his excitement on sealing a Super Eight berth in their debut tournament and said, "Yeah, definitely we are celebrating. Everybody's happy right now. Obviously, qualifying for the Super Eights is a big thing, so everybody's happy right now."
Jones is happy to return to his birthplace, Barbados, to play two Super Eight matches and receive support from home fans.
"It's really good for me to go back home. I'm really happy right now. I think I'll get a lot of support for sure, especially in Barbados. So definitely looking forward to it," he said.
USA will take on undefeated South Africa in their first Super Eight fixture in Antigua on June 19 before taking on co-hosts West Indies in Barbados on June 22.