With their Super Eight berth confirmed in the T20 World Cup, USA vice-captain Aaron Jones has expressed confidence in his team's ability to trump any full member side given they play 'proper cricket' and up to their potential.
The tournament co-hosts USA's dream run at the T20 World Cup continued on Friday when their Super Eight qualification was confirmed after their Group A game against Ireland was washed out, with the two sides sharing a point each.
USA defeated neighbours Canada by seven wickets before edging out former champions Pakistan in a thrilling Super Over finish to make their debut appearance in the tournament a memorable one.
"Definitely looking forward to the challenge (of Super Eight) for sure. Over the last couple of weeks, we've shown that obviously we could definitely compete and beat some of the full member nations," Jones said at the post-match press conference.
In the Super Eight, USA will face South Africa, West Indies and possibly England and Jones is confident that his side can challenge the best in the world.
"To be honest with you, a lot of people don't really pay much attention to US cricket. Probably the whole world don't already know how much talent we have here and how good the players that we have here are. That could be a little advantage to us, but definitely on any given day, once we play proper cricket, we believe that we can beat any team in the world for sure," he added.
The Super Eight appearance has ensured USA's automatic qualification for the 2026 edition of the T20 World Cup as well.
"It's a big thing for us, to be honest. Over the last couple of years, we've been speaking about playing in the World Cup, playing more games against the full member nations and stuff like that. Here we are doing it right now and obviously qualifying for the Super Eights is really good.
"Not only for us right now in the moment, but I think we'll qualify for the 2026 World Cup as well, it's a big thing for us. It is really good for us, and not only for us, but the fans around America as well. We really appreciate them for sure and not only for the fans but for the younger generation in America as well is really good." Last month, Bangladesh had toured USA to play a three-match T20 series which the hosts had won 3-0 and with their good run at the T20 World Cup persisting, Jones hopes more full member teams will play bilateral series with them.
"I think for the boys we want to play as much cricket as possible and we would love to play more cricket against the full member nations. That's where we're going to test ourselves best against the best in the world. So definitely let's see how it goes but we really and truly will love that for sure."
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