USA vow to play ‘fearless cricket’ in World Cup debut

Monank Patel and Ali Khan of the USA poses prior to the ICC Men's T20 Cricket World Cup West Indies & USA 2024 match between USA and Canada at Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium on May 29, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. (AFP/File)
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Updated 01 June 2024
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USA vow to play ‘fearless cricket’ in World Cup debut

  • The USA make their debut in the T20 World Cup against Canada on Saturday
  • Both teams are making their first appearances in the 20-team competition

DALLAS: The USA make their debut in the T20 World Cup against Canada on Saturday and vice-captain Aaron Jones says they are determined to play a ‘fearless’ brand of cricket.
Both teams are making their first appearances in the expanded 20-team competition but there is particular pressure on the USA, as tournament co-hosts, with the West Indies, to deliver a strong showing on home soil.
The explosive, short-format of the game, is seen by cricket’s leaders as being the perfect version to capture the imagination of mainstream American sports fans and Jones says the team doesn’t want to be afraid of going on the attack.
“Fearless cricket, positive cricket, smart cricket. I think that’s what we’re really and truly trying to do,” Jones told a press conference.
“We don’t want to regret anything. We want to leave everything out there on the park. And then, obviously, if we come out on top, it’s great. If we don’t come out on top, that’s how cricket goes sometimes. But we don’t want to regret anything,” he added.
The two North American teams have been drawn in a tough group however with India and Pakistan the clear favorites to be the two teams who qualify for the Super Eight stage.
Ireland, who in many ways are a role model for the USA and Canada, having come from relative cricket obscurity to be a regular in major tournaments, will be looking to pull off an upset and sneak into the top two in Group A.
But however the results turn out, it is a landmark moment for the USA team to be in an elite competition after decades of being stuck in minor tournaments.
“We’ve been speaking over the last couple of years about playing in World Cups, about getting test status, about taking USA cricket to higher heights,” said Jones.
“And obviously, we are playing a World Cup starting tomorrow. So that’s probably the highest height (so far),” he added.
Jones was born in New York but raised in Barbados, who he represented earlier in his career, before moving back to the USA to be part of the team.
He acknowledges that the team has the added responsibility of being ambassadors for the sport when they play games in Texas, Florida and New York.
“Obviously, what you do on the field is very important, but I also do think that off the field stuff is very important as well, especially being a country that don’t really know much about cricket,” he said.
“We want to get the fans up; we want to get a lot more support from the American born and raised people and I think we could only do that by playing good on the field and obviously interacting with the fans or the growing fans off the field as well,” added Jones.
Curiously, the first ever international cricket match was played between the USA and Canada in 1844 in New York and there were a multitude of clubs, particularly in Philadelphia and New York.
But baseball soon replaced cricket as the favored summer sport with cricket virtually disappearing apart from in a few hold-outs.
However, in recent years, the growing communities from South Asia and the Caribbean have led a revival with competitive amateur leagues now well-established and last year a new T20 pro league, Major League Cricket (MLC) was launched.
The Grand Prairie ground, a converted minor-league baseball park, was opened last year while the cricket venue in Lauderhill, near Fort Lauderdale in South Florida, has already hosted a number of international games.
The venue in Long Island, which will host the big India v Pakistan clash, is a 34,000 temporary stadium which will be dismantled after the tournament, although the cricket field itself will remain.
Jones, who made his debut for the USA in 2018, says the change in the past few years has been remarkable to be part of.
“I think that we are on the up right now as it relates to the amount of cricket we play, as it relates to the infrastructure, different fields, a lot more access to turf wickets which is very important for us.
“Definitely some quality players (have come into) the country over the last couple of years which obviously improves the competition. So right now, I think that things are only up and we just want to keep growing from here,” he said.


Bebeto’s baby Mattheus Oliveira now chasing success at UAE’s Al-Nasr

Updated 22 sec ago
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Bebeto’s baby Mattheus Oliveira now chasing success at UAE’s Al-Nasr

  • The player made famous years ago by his father’s iconic goal celebration spoke to Arab News about the UAE move and his friendship with Vinicius Jr.

LONDON: There is nothing atypical about a father going to watch his son play football, even when it is thousands of kilometers from home. What is a little more unusual, however, is when the team is Khor Fakkan and the father is one of the greatest Brazilian players of all time.

In early January, the 7,500-capacity Saqr bin Mohammad Al-Qassimi Stadium hosted Bebeto, whose glittering 20-year career included star turns on the pitches of iconic grounds such as the Maracana, Camp Nou and the Bernabeu.

The legendary Brazilian striker was in town to watch his son Mattheus Oliviera, who put in his best display yet for Khor Fakkan — setting up two goals in a 5-2 victory over Baniyas.

Mattheus, in his first season in the UAE Pro League, has since joined Al-Nasr — making a switch this week that sees him trade a relegation battle for a fight for third place and a spot in the AFC Champions League 2 group stage.

The winger ended nearly a decade-long spell in Portuguese football to move to the UAE last summer.

“It is completely new for me but I’m liking the football here so far,” Mattheus told Arab News in an exclusive interview. “It’s difficult with the heat but I am enjoying how different it is and the people are very warm here in the UAE.”

Mattheus’ decision to swap Portugal for the Gulf came after he sought advice from his brother-in-law Carlos Eduardo.

The midfielder was an influential player for Al-Hilal, Shabab Al-Ahli and Al-Ahli Jeddah before returning to Brazil, where he won a historic Copa Libertadores title with Botafogo last November.

“I spoke with him a lot when I was in Brazil last summer,” Mattheus revealed. “I wanted to know about the country, the league and of course the culture.

“He said a lot of good things to me so it helped me decide to sign the contract. I spoke with my family too and we agreed it was time for a new project in our lives.”

Of course, Mattheus also consulted his father. The 30-year-old midfielder has followed in the footsteps of many Brazilian players who have made the UAE Pro League their home — though Bebeto is not one of them.

Bebeto — whose 35 goals for the Brazil national team are only surpassed by Zico, Romario, Ronaldo, Pele and Neymar — did play in the Gulf, but it was for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad. The Jeddah giants were the final club of his illustrious career.

“We lived in Saudi for a few months. I was probably about 8 years old,” Mattheus recalled.

“I can really remember him playing at Al-Ittihad, it was the last six months of his career. It’s funny now that I’m back here in the region.”

It is not the first time that Mattheus’ career path has crossed his father’s. In Brazil, the attacking midfielder came through the youth system at Flamengo, where Bebeto scored most of his goals in domestic football.

It was here that Mattheus was first alerted to the ability of another, younger player in Flamengo’s academy.

“The first time I saw Vinicius Jr. he was around 9 years old; by the time he was 12, you already knew that he was a special player,” Mattheus said.

“He was very fast and very confident. He can lose the ball 20 times in a game but he will try 50 more times to make things happen and one he’s going to score for sure.

“I’m very happy for him because he’s my friend. I know him and I know his family. We had a good relationship and he’s a very humble guy. He is playing for Real Madrid in the top of the world but is the same guy he was as a kid.

“What he did last year and he continued to do this year is completely amazing and it has been great to see because I know he deserves this.”

Vinicius Jr. was snapped up by Real Madrid at the age of 18 but for Mattheus, the move to Europe came at a slightly later age.

After finding the label of “Bebeto’s son” tough to deal with at Flamengo, a 21-year-old Mattheus — by that time a Brazil under-20 international —initially went on loan to Portuguese side Estoril and later moved to Sporting in 2021.

“In Brazil it was very difficult to be his son because he’s a legend of the game there,” Mattheus said.

“They were comparing me the whole time and you hear people saying ‘you are only here at Flamengo and you are only going to the national team because you are Bebeto’s son.’

“It was the main reason I wanted to go to Europe because I didn’t want those comparisons; I think the whole experience made me grow up faster.

“But to me it will always be a blessing to have Bebeto as my father. I’ve had my own personal coach, a legend of the game, teaching me the right things to do on the pitch.”

It was on the pitch that Bebeto created one of football’s most iconic moments during the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the US.

After scoring Brazil’s second goal against Netherlands in the quarterfinal, Bebeto delighted the crowd at Dallas’ Cotton Bowl with a ‘baby rocking’ celebration — along with teammates Romario and Mazinho.

It was an instinctive, emotional tribute to Mattheus, who had been born two days earlier.

“It’s completely crazy because I travel a lot with my family and everywhere we go, people look at me and say to him, ‘this is the kid you did the celebration for?’ It was 30 years ago and people are still doing it to him now.

“To him, the celebration was a natural thing to do because when my brother and my sister were born, he was there to get them in his arms. When he was playing in the World Cup, he wasn’t there with my mother, so he did this. I love that he did it.”

Mattheus still has the photo of the celebration hanging above his bed at his family home in Brazil, but the midfielder has now forged his own path in football.

At Sporting, he counted Rafael Leao and Bruno Fernandes as friends and teammates, and played under current Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim.

In the UAE he emerged as a key creative force for Khor Fakkan, earning the move to Al-Nasr for the rest of the 2024-25 season. Still, Mattheus knows that whatever his circumstances and wherever in the world he plays, his father will always be on hand to support him.

“After the game (against Baniyas in January), we went back to my house and he’s still giving me advice. I think it’s the most beautiful thing to play a game of football and have him talk to me about it afterwards.

“My dad was a football player; he made history in football. I think it was in my blood to play this game and it is something special. It is a gift.”


‘Couldn’t have scripted it better’ — Baseball United chief’s pride after record UAE Series attendance and viewing

Updated 19 min 30 sec ago
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‘Couldn’t have scripted it better’ — Baseball United chief’s pride after record UAE Series attendance and viewing

  • The historic 3-game series between the Arabia Wolves and Mid East Falcons — the UAE’s first professional baseball teams — was watched in more than 100 countries

DUBAI: A record three million viewers watched the three-game UAE Series between the Arabia Wolves and the Mid East Falcons last weekend, Baseball United has announced.

The series was carried by 17 linear and digital broadcast partners and drew viewers from more than 100 countries including the US, Canada, Mexico, Japan, France, the UK, Italy, Australia, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Saudi Arabia, making it the most-watched baseball event in the history of the region.

The series marked the first time the Wolves and the Falcons — the league’s two UAE-based franchises — took the field. The Dubai-based Wolves won all three games, including a close 5-4 victory in Sunday’s finale.

The series was hosted at Baseball United’s new ballpark at The Sevens sports and entertainment complex in Dubai and was a complete sellout. The modular seating currently accommodates 3,000 fans, with plans to scale up to 10,000 for future events.

“We are truly grateful to reach another set of milestones on our journey toward building the region’s next great sport,” said Kash Shaikh, chairman, CEO and co-founder of Baseball United, the first professional baseball league focused on the Middle East and Indian subcontinent.

“This past weekend, we put two of our franchises on the field for the first time. We had several of the world’s best baseball players playing for the first time at our new ballpark. We sold out each night. We reached millions of new fans on social media. And we had a record number of broadcast partners and viewers. And, of course, we had three great games of high-quality baseball. We couldn’t have scripted it any better. I’m very thankful to all of our partners, and very proud of our Baseball United team.”

The Arabia Wolves won the opening game 6-5, with left-fielder Courtney Hawkins hitting a solo home run to provide the difference. Brian Schlitter, who previously played in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs and Oakland Athletics, and in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Saitama Seibu Lions, got the win.

On Saturday night, the Wolves ran away with an 11-0 victory behind a dominant pitching performance from starter Cameron Gann. Gann pitched five innings and struck out nine for the win. Wolves prospect Ernest Ohandza, the first professional baseball player in the history of Cameroon, struck out the final batter to end the night.

Sunday night was another close affair, with the Falcons mounting a late rally to turn a four-run deficit into a one-run game. Local prospect Lorenzo Riddle got the win for the hometown Wolves, with Connor Panas and Didi Gregorius both going deep for the red and black. Panas was originally drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015, and Gregorius spent 11 years in MLB, including five as the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees.

The teams were managed by game veterans John McLaren (Wolves) and Dennis Cook (Falcons), while future baseball hall of famer Albert Pujols was part of the pregame ceremonies and served as the broadcast analyst for all three games.

Baseball United built its new ballpark in just 38 days last year. Since then it has hosted the largest international amateur baseball tournament in the history of the region, the Arab Classic, along with this past weekend’s inaugural professional games. The league will be on hiatus during Ramadan and the summer months, returning to action in October.


LIV Golf stars Garcia and Reed set for International Series Macau

Updated 28 min 8 sec ago
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LIV Golf stars Garcia and Reed set for International Series Macau

  • The Asian Tour event has this year been named as a qualifying pathway event for The Open

MACAU: Major champions Sergio Garcia and Patrick Reed are the latest big names confirmed for the International Series Macau presented by Wynn, the elevated Asian Tour tournament that is a qualifying event for The Open this year.

The 2017 and 2018 Masters champions, respectively, will be part of a stellar field at Macau Golf and Country Club from March 20 to 23. The lineup includes defending champion John Catlin, who shot a historic 59 to claim a thrilling playoff victory at the same venue last year.

Spaniard Garcia, captain of the Fireballs GC in the LIV Golf League, will bring his entire team for the second of 10 elevated events on the Asian Tour calendar.

Mexican Abraham Ancer, the LIV Golf Hong Kong 2024 champion, Spaniard David Puig, who lost in the playoff to Catlin last year, and close-season recruit Luis Masaveu will all line up in Macau.

All four Fireballs GC players have shown good form this season, having secured the team title at the recent LIV Golf Adelaide by an emphatic six strokes.  

Hong Kong native Taichi Kho, the 2023 World City Championship winner, is also confirmed as part of a truly international field, with more big names to be revealed soon.

Garcia had an impressive 2024, recording his maiden win in the LIV Golf League at LIV Golf Andalucia, having lost in two playoffs — Mayakoba and Miami — earlier in the season.

The Ryder Cup legend finished third in the league’s overall individual standings, behind Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann.

Reed, who won the famous green jacket at Augusta a year after Garcia in 2018 and lined up against the Spaniard three times in the Ryder Cup, also had an impressive 2024.

The American, who plays for 4Aces GC in the LIV Golf league, stormed to a runaway victory at the Link Hong Kong Open on The International Series, ending a four-year drought.

The Macau contest was recently named as a tournament on The Open Qualifying Series for 2025, with the top three finishers set to earn a coveted spot in the field for this year’s fourth major.

Rahul Singh, head of The International Series, said: “Welcoming a field of this caliber, featuring major champions, LIV Golf stars, and rising talent, takes International Series Macau presented by Wynn to another level.

“The presence of globally recognized players alongside proven winners from The International Series and Asian Tour adds incredible depth to the competition, making this a must-watch event. With so much at stake, including three places in the field for The Open, we’re set for an electrifying week of world-class golf.”


Arab star Ons Jabeur fights through pain, but comes up short against Peyton Stearns in Dubai

Updated 49 min 3 sec ago
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Arab star Ons Jabeur fights through pain, but comes up short against Peyton Stearns in Dubai

  • ‘I didn’t want to just retire,’ says Arab No. 1 Jabeur, who was appearing at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for first time since 2022, as emirate celebrates 25-year anniversary of its WTA event

DUBAI: Ons Jabeur let a lead slip and grimaced in pain as she crashed out of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Monday night, falling in the first round to American Peyton Stearns 6-7(6), 4-6 in front of a vocal Centre Court crowd.

The Tunisian, a former world No. 2 who became the first Arab to reach a Grand Slam final at Wimbledon three years ago, had been forced to miss the past two editions of the Dubai tournament through injury.

Yet she was determined to be a part of this year’s lineup, which marks the landmark 25th anniversary of the women’s event in the emirate.

Enjoying strong support inside the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium with a series of Tunisian flags dotted among the crowd, the three-time Grand Slam finalist raced into the lead, breaking Stearns in the American’s first service game.

Yet she was unable to capitalize and allowed her opponent — ranked 14 places below her at No. 46 — back into the tie after serving a double fault on a break point in the fourth game.

Jabeur even managed to break again and found herself serving for the first set, but failed to close it out, and throwing her racquet on the ground in anger.

During a tight tie-break, another double fault saw Jabeur hand Stearns the momentum at 5-6 and the American went on to convert her first set point to claim the opener.

“Peyton is a really good player,” Jabeur said. “We practice a lot together, more last year and the year before, but yeah, she’s a tough opponent.

“She has a lot to improve for sure, but I see her in a much better ranking than this. I wish her all the best for the future. She handled moments very well during the match and hope she can make it very far.”

Jabeur is a resident of Dubai and was one of the most popular players in a field stacked with 36 of the top 40 women this week.

Understandably then, despite calling a medical timeout to assess her left thigh, she was keen to battle on, saving three break points in the opening exchanges of the second set.

It was not enough though and despite showing the fight for which she has become renowned, her service was broken in the third game and Stearns held on to complete a straight sets win.

“It was pretty tough today,” admitted Jabeur, who arrived in Dubai after quarterfinal runs in both Abu Dhabi and Doha in the past fortnight.

“I wasn’t 100 percent, obviously. I didn’t think I had enough time to recover from both tournaments, but I was there, trying my best. I didn’t want to just retire. I wanted to try more and see how it went.”

On her thigh issue, she added: “It’s nothing really serious. I just wasn’t feeling 100 percent physically. I feel I’ve been tired; I haven’t been sleeping as well as I was hoping to be sleeping.

“It was difficult to really recover from Abu Dhabi, Doha, and now to come here. I felt it was like a long tour for me. I was hoping to really play good here, but unfortunately it wasn’t the case.”

For her part, Stearns — making only her second appearance in the emirate — stood up to the challenge when it mattered most to claim an 11th career win against a top-50 player.

She faces another tough test on Tuesday against No. 7 seed Zheng Qinwen of China.

“I’m super happy with myself that I stayed in the match,” said Stearns. “I fought hard, dug deep, and all that good stuff. Ons is a great player and also a great person. It’s never fun playing those kind of people, but I knew I would need to play well against her.”

Earlier in the day, No. 13 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia was eliminated by Anastasia Potapova 3-6, 0-6 before No. 10 seed Daria Kasatkina also lost 1-6, 6-4 to Romanian wildcard Sorana Cirstea.

Jelena Ostapenko — the winner here in 2022 — also slipped out in the first round, with Japanese qualifier Moyuka Uchijima claiming a memorable 6-3, 6-3 win.

Tuesday will have the eight top seeds get their Dubai 2025 campaigns underway, with all four of the world’s leading players in action on Centre Court.

Reigning Dubai champion Jasmine Paolini meets German qualifier Eva Lys in the day’s first match, before world No. 2 Iga Swiatek faces Victoria Azarenka, and No. 3 seed Coco Gauff takes on fellow American McCartney Kessler.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka will be in the last match of the day, when she meets 2022 finalist Veronika Kudermetova.

The 25th edition of the annual WTA 1000 event is running until Feb. 22, before the 33rd staging of Dubai’s ATP Tour 500 tournament from Feb. 24 to March 1.


Kohli, Rohit near endgame as India chase Champions Trophy glory

Updated 18 February 2025
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Kohli, Rohit near endgame as India chase Champions Trophy glory

  • Both superstars have been mired in long lean patches in Tests, have already retired from T20 cricket
  • Superstars failed to impress when India’s board ordered contracted players to play domestic cricket

DUBAI: India captain Rohit Sharma and superstar batsman Virat Kohli enter the Champions Trophy this week with intense focus on their dwindling powers and speculation over when they will retire.

The 37-year-old Rohit and Kohli, 36, got back among the runs to some degree in India’s 3-0 ODI home sweep of England last week.

But both have been mired in long lean patches in Tests and have already retired from T20 cricket following last year’s World Cup triumph.

Age is clearly catching up with the duo ahead of India’s first match of the 50-over Champions Trophy, against Bangladesh on Thursday in Dubai.

Neither player — both mainstays of a formidable India team for more than 15 years — has said what their plans are.

But one Indian media report, citing anonymous sources at the cricket board, said opener Rohit had been pressed to make a decision on his future by the time the tournament ends.

Rohit’s Test career already looks over, the skipper having “rested” for the decisive, final Test against Australia.

“Hopefully they know when the right time to play is,” India’s 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev said.

“When they think it is not, they will call it off.”

Following the bruising 3-1 Test defeat in Australia, India’s board ordered contracted players to play domestic cricket.

But both flopped, with Rohit scoring three and 28 in his first and second innings for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy and Kohli scoring six off 15 balls for Delhi.

If the idea was to help them play their way back into form, it did not work.

Despite intense conjecture about their futures India head coach Gautam Gambhir said the two stalwarts will have “massive roles” to play at the Champions Trophy.

India, who will play their games in Dubai after refusing to visit neighbors and hosts Pakistan, are favorites to win the title for a third time.

Rohit came into the England ODIs with just 31 runs in three matches in the Australia Test series defeat.

He scored two in the first ODI against England before rolling back the years in the second with a 90-ball 119.

Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar was skeptical that Rohit could push on from there.

“He wanted a big hundred and he finally got it,” Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo.

“Whether he can hit a few more... we will have to wait. I am not confident.”

Rohit then got out for one in the final match against England.

It was in that match that Kohli finally came good with his 52 — his 73rd half-century in 297 ODIs.

Kohli started tentatively before finding his groove in Ahmedabad to finish with seven fours and one six in his 55-ball innings.

No matter what happens at the Champions Trophy, the expectation in India is that Kohli will continue to play Test cricket.

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen warned India against discarding the duo prematurely.

“You can’t write these guys off because of the aura they have when they walk out to bat,” said Pietersen in his role as a television pundit.

Pietersen said that Kohli in particular had earned the right to go out on his own terms.

“The question mark doesn’t come down to me, you, the selectors, the coaches, and the other players,” he said.

“Virat Kohli can only answer the question in terms of how long he wants to continue and how much fight he has to get better and to create those high standards that everybody expects from him.”