The United States of America made history on Friday by qualifying for the Super Eight stage of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 after their Group A match against Ireland was abandoned due to a wet outfield caused by overnight rains in Lauderhill, Florida.
The USA is now assured of finishing second in Group A ahead of Pakistan, Canada and Ireland, thus knocking former champion Pakistan in the group stage itself.
Not a ball was bowled at a damp Lauderhill in Florida and T20 World Cup co-hosts USA shared the points with Ireland. A wet outfield delayed the toss in Florida, and, after several inspections and the best efforts of the local ground staff, the game was abandoned.
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.
A USA defeat to Ireland in this fixture would have handed Pakistan the chance to leapfrog into the top two when they face Ireland in Lauderhill on Sunday. But the American side now has an unassailable five points, having beaten Canada and Pakistan earlier in the tournament, meaning that they become the sixth team to qualify for the Super Eight stage of the tournament.
The USA is not hosting the event for the first time but is also playing in its maiden T20 World Cup. They started the event by beating Canada and then stunned Pakistan to cause the biggest upset in the tournament.
USA’s defeat to 2007 winner India, who have won all their three matches so far, had given some hopes to Pakistan, who have lost to archrivals and have only one win in three matches. But Friday’s one point cleared the USA’s path to the Super Eights and also gave a huge fillip to ICC’s efforts to promote the game in the country.