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FORT LAUDERDALE, USA – A dramatic innings of 65 from 42 balls by Gajanand Singh inspired USA Men to overcome a poor start and power home over a “rusty” Irish side in the first T20I of the Dafabet USA v Ireland Men’s International Series.
USA navigated a nightmare start to set an imposing total for Ireland, recovering from 16-4 to reach 188-9 after 20 overs – mainly courtesy of a 110-run partnership between Gajanand Singh and Sushant Modani.

American captain Monank Patel won the toss and elected to bat, but may have been questioning his decision after being dismissed second ball by Barry McCarthy.

Three further wickets soon followed the captain’s dismissal leaving the home side in a difficult position reeling at 16-4 in the 5th over – Xavier Marshall soon followed his captain back into the hutch after being clean bowled by McCarthy for four, Ritwik Behera was given LBW without troubling the scorer from the spin of Simi Singh after a missed sweep shot, and the pace of McCarthy struck again with Ryan Scott caught in the deep by Lorcan Tucker.

Gajanand Singh, who had scored 50 not out in a victory over Argentina in November, announced his intent to counter-attack by smacking McCarthy square for four runs off his second ball. Accompanied by the steady hand of Modani, the pair rebuilt the USA innings and reached a score of 51-4 at the halfway mark before stepping on the gas.

Singh hit Ireland’s Simi Singh around the park in the 12th over, hoisted Curtis Campher for six twice in the next over, before smashing Ben White over the ropes with a baseball-style strike in the next. He brought up his second T20I career fifty with an under-edge that slipped away from Rock and went for four.

After clearing the boundaries again off White, Singh was eventually caught behind – but the damage had been done. His 65 off 42 balls had set the tone for the US latter innings and ensured a competitive target was set.

Debutant Modani brought up his 50 with a single to deep backward point, and the big-hitting Marty Kain hoisted McCarthy for six off the next ball as USA poured on the pressure in the last five overs. McCarthy responded with the very next ball by dismissing Modani with a catch at long off, only for Kain to smash 22 runs off Adair in the final over to set Ireland an imposing total of 189 to win.

McCarthy was the pick of the Irish bowlers with 4-30 – his T20I career-best.

Requiring over nine runs an over, Ireland had no time to settle into their response and Andrew Balbirnie steered Saurabh Netravalkar for four runs in the third ball of the innings. Paul Stirling guided Ali Khan for another four in the next over, only for Khan to hit back and have Balbirnie caught in the deep.

Tucker joined Stirling at the crease and the pair upped the scoring rate to bring Ireland to 31-1 after four overs, Netravalkar struck a crucial blow in the fifth over, clean bowling the fast scoring Stirling to halt his innings at 31 from 15 balls.

Campher was up next and scored at over a run a ball to bring the Irish to 74-2 after nine overs as they struggled to keep up with the required run rate. With the scoreboard pressure well and truly on, Campher charged the spin bowling of Nisarg Patel only to be stumped by Monank Patel.

Shane Getkate hit sixes in consecutive overs but the required run rate crept up above 11 as Ireland stood on 97-4 after Getkate was caught at deep square leg off the bowling of Netravalkar.

Nisarg Patel dismissed Rock for seven before the trio of Netravalkar, Khan and Yasir Mohammad put the brakes on and conceded 25 runs from four overs to leave Ireland needing a next to impossible 51 runs from the final two overs.

Khan ended the innings of William McClintock with a well-bowled yorker as the game slipped away from Ireland. In the final over, Tucker reached a noble 50 and Adair launched Mohammad for six with the final ball of the innings.

After the match, Captain Andrew Balbirnie said after the positive start, it was “pretty brutal stuff by us and not good enough”. He offered that there was an element of “rustiness”, but stated that “we can’t start like that”, saying that he believed “the intent was there, but we just didn’t execute”.

In the end, it was USA who were celebrating a historic victory, winning the game by 26 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the two-game T20I series, with the next game a day/night match to be played tomorrow in Florida.

MATCH SUMMARY

USA Men v Ireland Men, 1st T20I, Broward County Stadium, Florida, 22 December 2021

USA 188-6 (20 overs: G Singh 65, S Modani 50; B McCarthy 4-30)
Ireland 162-6 (20 overs: L Tucker 57*; S Netravalkar 2-26)

USA Men won by 26 runs

See full scorecard

Stewart Flaherty, Freelance Sports Journalist (@StewartFlaherty)
Andrew Balbirnie reacts to a near-miss run out opportunity
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