The USA made a stunning entrance at the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, chasing down a target of 195 with 14 deliveries to spare against Canada in Texas on Saturday. Aaron Jones played a pivotal role in their dominant chase, delivering a spectacular innings to kickstart the T20 showpiece.
Jones smashed a career-best 94 not out off just 40 deliveries, hitting four fours and 10 sixes. The 29-year-old backed up his pre-tournament statement about the team’s approach, emphasizing a desire to play “fearless cricket, positive cricket, smart cricket” and to “leave everything out there on the park.”
His 10 sixes equalled the record for most sixes by a batter in a T20 World Cup innings, matching West Indies legend Chris Gayle, who hit 11 sixes against England during the 2016 T20 World Cup.
Aaron Jones has a background in professional cricket, having played in Barbados and being a childhood friend of England’s Jofra Archer, a 2019 ODI World Cup winner. Born on October 19, 1994, Jones made his first-class debut in 2017, scoring 342 runs in seven matches.
After playing domestic cricket in the Caribbean, Jones qualified to represent the USA at the international level, becoming a key player for the team. Reports conflict regarding his place of birth, with some claiming Queens (New York) and others Barbados.
Jones achieved his first List A century at the World Cricket League Division Two, a competition that helped the USA gain ODI status in 2019.
In 43 ODIs, Jones has scored 1454 runs at an average of 36.35 and a strike rate of 70.78, including a century and 10 half-centuries. He made his T20I debut in March 2019, scoring 478 runs in 27 matches at a strike rate of 116.87, with two half-centuries.
Jones is also a part-time leg-spinner, having taken six wickets in his T20I career so far.