The United States of America (USA) batter Aaron Jones has shared his observation that people in the country don’t pay much attention to cricket.
The cricketer expressed these views after the home side made their way to the T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 on Friday.
The match between the USA and Ireland was called off in Florida without a ball being bowled and both teams were awarded one point each. USA took their points tally to five, which sent Pakistan packing as the side could no longer achieve the level.
This meant the Men in Green were eliminated from the T20 World Cup.
Talking in a post-match presser, Jones stated that the USA showed in the tournament that they can beat any full-member nation in the world. He, however, added that the people in the country were unaware of the talent their team has.
"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.
"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.
Jones also stated that playing in the World Cup Super 8 would be a big thing for them as well as the younger generation in America as their interest in cricket may grow with time.
"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,” Jones added.
"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."
