Even if #TeamUSA won their final match of the ICC World Twenty20 Americas Qualifier in North Carolina, there was no guarantee they would top the table as it would likely come down to Net Run Rate against Canada with both sides chasing a final total of 10 points for their 5 wins and 1 loss over the 6 games of the tournament.
So the theme of the final day of the qualifier was all about getting as large a Net Run Rate boost as possible. Steven Taylor’s remarkable striking continued the day after his prior evening’s heroics and he led USA to a huge win which you can watch now below but would it be enough?
For USA they could only watch and wait to see the calculations as Canada were set the task of beating Panama by a really huge margin to surpass USA at the top of the table.
Despite Canada’s comfortable win, it wasn’t quite enough and USA triumphed by the narrowest of margins to finish a very memorable week’s cricket on top of the table and be crowned as champions!
Saturday: ??hit final ball 6 to tie match & then defeat ??in Super Over
Tuesday: ??hit 22 runs off final over to beat ??by 2 wkts
Wednesday: ?? & ?? both score big wins but ??triumph by .1 on Net Run Rate to top table!?#WT20 Americas Qualifier has had it all!? pic.twitter.com/EPBOZfZWui
— USA Cricket (@usacricket) September 26, 2018
So it’s onto the next step in the qualification structure for the USA and Canada for the ICC World Twenty20, 2020 that will be held in Australia. That next step? Finish in the top 2 places from the full ICC Americas Qualifier between USA, Canada, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands to claim one of the 2 spots at the global qualifier.
So the 4 countries that will battle it out at the next stage of #WT20 Qualification are confirmed as…..
Canada ??
USA ??
Bermuda ??
Cayman Islands ??The top 2 sides from that tournament will advance to the 2020 @ICC World Twenty20 Global Qualifier pic.twitter.com/QjtFd1skq4
— USA Cricket (@usacricket) September 27, 2018
