(AP Photo)
Chris Jordan’s stunning performance propelled England into the semifinals of the 2024 T20 World Cup on Sunday, as they overwhelmed the United States by 10 wickets with a remarkable 62 balls to spare in their final Super Eight encounter.
In a dramatic display, Jordan seized four wickets in just five deliveries during his final over, dismantling the USA for 115 runs in 18.5 overs. His exceptional feat included claiming a hat trick, making him the first English cricketer to achieve this milestone in T20 Internationals. The sequence began with Corey Anderson being caught at long-on by Harry Brook. Two balls later, Ali Khan’s stumps were shattered, followed swiftly by dismissing Nosthush Kenjige lbw and clean bowling Saurabh Netravalkar, all three batsmen dismissed without contributing to the scoreboard.
“Yeah, I think I started off by concentrating on the team. Obviously, the hat trick is definitely a special one. I will come on to that in a second, but I thought the team performance was really solid today. The way we set the tone in the power play. We knew they were going to come hard, played a few good shots, but then the way Liam and Rash controlled things for us in the middle, just set up things nicely for us at the back end and we were able to reap the rewards,” Jordan said at the post-match press conference.
“But to get that hat trick, obviously in a well-documented place that I was born, a place that I played so much cricket, in front of my family, my friends, the atmosphere, hearing the music going, everything, a nice day. Yeah, it was a special one,” he added.
“I think you can see that with the way in which the boys are playing now. I think having gone through it in the last World Cup that we won as well . I think it is standing us in good stead because there was not too much panic in when I think it was the Ireland game and they ended up winning on Duckworth Lewis and then we had to be in a position where we had to win every game after that,” he said.
“But I think the calmness within the dressing room, the dressing room has a lot of experience now, both in the playing 15 and also off the field as well. So, we’ve had some really good chats. And I think the scenarios that we found ourselves in, where we had to get our run rate up and stuff like that, and try to beat people and really dominate games, really gave us some really clear direction. I think you are seeing that in the way we are playing now,” Jordan added.
