USA name squad for 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers

USA Cricket announced 14 for the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier B set for Zimbabwe from July 11 through July 17. 

Cameron Stevenson prepares to make his T20i debut for USA, and Marty Kain, Vatsal Vaghela, return after excellent performances against Ireland in December. Jaskaran Malhotra will also return to the team, after recovering from a fractured finger suffered in a warm-up game ahead of the Cricket World Cup League Two in Houston last month. Veteran fast bowler Rusty Theron, who took eight wickets at an average of 18.25 in five innings in Houston’s Cricket World Cup League Two, also returns to the T20 team, after being left out of the Ireland series due to injury. 

Though the qualifiers will be the first T20i action for USA since splitting a series against Ireland in Florida in December, USA are anything but cold. Two grueling Cricket World Cup League Two ODI trilaterals wrapped up just last week in the sweltering heat of Houston, Texas, with USA walking away as the only team of the five from either series with a winning record.

Omitted from the T20 team which was originally named ahead of the Ireland series in December are Ryan Scott, Xavier Marshall, Jessy Singh, and Karima Gore. USA U19 all rounders Ritwik Behera and Ali Sheikh, who were added to the T20 roster in December after some players fell ill with Covid, also find themselves outside of the team.  

The qualifier is divided up into two groups of four, and USA find themselves in Group A, along with Jersey, Singapore, and host Zimbabwe. The top two teams in each group will advance to a semifinal. From there, the two finalists will face off in a final to determine their group placement in the 2022 T20 World Cup, where they will join Qualifier A finalists, UAE and Ireland. 

In preparation, USA will play more practice matches (six) in Windhoek and Harare than official T20i qualifier games (five). Since the ICC extended international status to all T20 matches between members (Associate or Full Members) in 2019, the USA Men have played 16 total T20i, only four of which weren’t T20 World Cup Qualifiers. The classification of the six warm-up games as practice matches will mean that this trend, a common one in the world of Associate Members, will continue. 

USA’s first practice match will be on June 30th in Windhoek, and their first qualifier game will be on July 11 in Bulawayo.

USA Squad

Monank Patel (Captain)

Aaron Jones (Vice-Captain)

Ali Khan

Cameron Stevenson

Gajanand Singh

Jaskaran Malhotra

Marty Kain

Nisarg Patel

Rusty Theron

Saurabh Netravalkar

Steven Taylor

Sushant Modani

Yasir Mohammed

Vatsal Vaghela

Schedule

USA in Namibia

USA vs Namibia, Windhoek June 30th – T20 Practice Match

USA vs Namibia, Windhoek July 1st – T20 Practice Match

USA vs Jersey, Windhoek July 2nd – T20 Practice Match

USA vs Jersey, Windhoek July 3rd – T20 Practice Match

USA in Zimbabwe

USA vs Netherlands, Harare, July 6th – T20 Practice Match

USA vs Netherlands, Harare, July 7th – T20 Practice Match

USA vs Jersey, Bulawayo, July 11th – ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier B (Group A)

USA vs Singapore, Bulawayo, July 12th – ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier B (Group A)

USA vs Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, July 14th – ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier B (Group A)

Semi-Finals/5-8th Place Playoff, Bulawayo, July 15th – ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier B

Final Classification Match, Bulawayo, July 17th – ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier B