The USA have scripted history by qualifying for the Super Eight stage of the Men’s T20 World Cup in their first-ever appearance at the marquee-tournament. The tournament co-hosts USA joined India in the top two of Group A of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 ahead of Pakistan, Ireland and Canada

USA’ Super Eight qualification was confirmed on Friday after their Group A game against Ireland was washed out, with the two sides sharing a point each.

The washout ended any qualification permutations in Group A, with Ireland’s hopes of reaching the Super Eight coming to an end and Pakistan also confirmed as exiting the tournament at the group stage.

After confirming the Super Eight berth in the T20 World Cup 2024, USA vice-captain Aaron Jones has expressed confidence in his team’s ability to beat any full member side if they play ‘proper cricket’.

Notably, USA defeated Canada by seven wickets in a high-scoring game before edging out Pakistan in a thrilling Super Over finish to make its debut appearance in the T20 World Cup a memorable one. In the Super Eight, they will face South Africa, West Indies and possibly England.

“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.

“To be honest with you, a lot of people don’t really pay much attention to US cricket. Probably the whole world doesn’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 berth has ensured USA’s automatic qualification for the 2026 edition of the T20 World Cup as well. According to Jones, it’s a big thing for them.

“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 said.

“Not only for us right now at 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,” he added.

The 29-year-old batter hopes that more full member teams will play bilateral series with the USA after this T20 World Cup.

“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,” he concluded.