Aaron Jones admits USA progress could define future of cricket in country ahead of South Africa
Aaron Jones admits USA progress could define future of cricket in country ahead of South Africa
18/06/2024
Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound
18/06/2024
Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound
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00:00Aaron, good luck tomorrow.
00:05It's been an incredible journey already.
00:08Just talk to us about the feelings of the group now moving on past the group stage and
00:13now here in the Caribbean, you know, ready to challenge the best in the world.
00:18All good.
00:19I think the boys are happy, really happy, really excited to get on the park tomorrow.
00:22We've been playing some good cricket over the last couple of weeks and we just want
00:26to continue tomorrow, to be honest.
00:29You spoke before the first match day at the start of the tournament about playing fearless
00:33cricket.
00:34You were so invigorated by the home support across both Dallas and then Florida.
00:41You come here.
00:42How much do you think that dynamic sort of changes and you guys playing in the Caribbean
00:46instead?
00:47I mean, to be honest with you, like myself and Steven, we have a lot of support in the
00:52Caribbean, so we'll definitely have some support tomorrow for sure.
00:56As it relates to the whole team, I think a few people from USA actually flew to the
01:01Caribbean to support us, so it's really good.
01:04But that's no face for us.
01:05We just want to play hard cricket regardless of the situation.
01:08Looking at your record too, I mean, coming in before the tournament, you know, a lot
01:12of chat was about sort of the strike rate and you seem to really sort of feed off not
01:19only the atmosphere, but the energy and just the hype of this tournament.
01:24How much do you think you're going to enjoy the Super 8 stage and actually testing your
01:28game further, both as a leader and a key batter of the side?
01:33For me personally, to be honest, I like to play situation.
01:37I like to play for my team always.
01:40If it's a case I'm playing a game and we need five runs or over, I'll back to suit.
01:44If we need 15 runs or over, I'll back to suit.
01:46So I don't really worry about the whole talk about strike rate and all this sort of stuff.
01:50As it relates to playing against some of the better teams in the world, I'm looking forward
01:54to it for sure.
01:55The boys are happy.
01:56The boys are excited to play against the best teams in the world.
01:57We wanted to do that.
01:59We've been speaking about that over the last couple of years.
02:01And here we are now.
02:02So we're just going to enjoy our cricket and, as I said, play fearless cricket all the time.
02:07Looking at your opponents in South Africa, they're a side that probably haven't been
02:11at their best, but they're definitely ones in the conversation as a team that can potentially
02:16win the tournament.
02:18What have you looked into on a tactical front of your opponents tomorrow?
02:23I mean, I don't want to get into too deep about the whole meetings and stuff we have,
02:28but all I'll say is we have some guys that played against South Africa and played with
02:33South African guys in the past, and we have some South African guys on our team as well.
02:38So we have a bit of insight on the team and, yeah, hopefully everything goes well tomorrow.
02:43Speaking of those players, Shadley, has he taken the American socks off yet or is there
02:47still the superstition going on that front?
02:51I think he has, like, maybe four or five pairs of those socks, to be honest with you.
02:56He really enjoys it, to be honest.
02:57We like it.
02:58Every game we look forward to see which socks he's going to wear, to be honest with you.
03:02And then maybe just finally, I mean, to kind of build off that group stage campaign, what's
03:07your kind of message to maybe some new fans who have been brought into the spectacle that
03:12is T20 World Cup cricket?
03:14What's the message to those back in the US supporting the team for the rest of the tournament?
03:20Well, firstly, thank you for everything.
03:22I think that's really important.
03:24Over the last few years, we've been talking about growing a bigger following as it relates
03:27to US cricket, and I think it's growing slowly right now, so we definitely thank them for
03:31sure.
03:32And, yeah, just keep supporting us, keep following us, keep watching our games, and we'll definitely
03:38put on a good show for everybody for sure.
03:42Have you found just the, you know, you personally, whether it's your social media or other things,
03:47you know, the profile, has it been a big change from in the last couple of weeks?
03:52Yeah.
03:53Social media being crazy, to be honest.
03:56But yeah, I'm pretty used to the whole social media stuff.
03:59To be honest with you, I don't pay much attention to social media.
04:01I try to, even if I'm doing well, obviously I'll get a lot of good comments, and if I'm
04:05doing bad, then obviously you know how the comments go.
04:07So I don't really get too deep into social media.
04:10I log on from here one or two times a day, but I don't get too deep into it, to be honest.
04:16But it's been good over the last couple of weeks.
04:17Have the followers seen a significant increase?
04:21Yeah, probably maybe, I don't know, 20,000 followers on Instagram, maybe a couple thousand
04:29on Twitter.
04:30Yeah, it's been going up.
04:32And are the guys in general sort of enjoying the fact that, you know, you've gone from,
04:37you know, probably within mainstream American media, you know, obscurity to, you know, being
04:43really the talk of the country there after that victory over Pakistan?
04:47Yeah, I think this is what we wanted, to be honest, over the last few years.
04:51I think we have a lot of talent in the country, but the world don't really know because most
04:56people don't pay attention to U.S. cricket, or probably before the workout, I should say.
05:00So we wanted everybody to know about us.
05:02We wanted everybody to watch us and support us as well, and I think it's just growing
05:05right now, and I think we are on a good path and we are enjoying it.
05:08And just your assessment on the U.S. component of the event now that that's wrapped up, you
05:13know, not just your games, but all the fixtures in New York, I mean, just your observations
05:17from that.
05:19In New York, I think, obviously we all know it was a bit tough to bat in New York, but
05:25we can't really complain too much.
05:27Obviously the stadium is new, the pitch is new, everything, but you can't really play
05:32on flat wickets every day, that's what I believe.
05:34I believe as a good player you need to adjust to everything.
05:37So it goes, sometimes you just have to adjust to the conditions.
05:41If you're a good player, you have to adjust.
05:42And all the crowds outside of the pitch, more the general atmosphere and interest, was it
05:48what you expected?
05:49Was it more than what, you know, how do you assess that component?
05:52Yeah, it's been really good, to be honest, in New York.
05:55Obviously we know when you play against India, the crowd is going to be crazy.
05:58We enjoy it, we love it, to be honest.
06:00We want people to come and watch our games.
06:02We want people to support us.
06:03I think we had a lot of support playing against India as well.
06:07So yeah, it's been good, it's been a good couple of weeks, and we're just looking forward
06:11to this now, Super 8 now.
06:13I did notice in the crowd, there was a lot of fans that had both USA flags and India
06:18flags, there was a lot of co-support there.
06:20Did you feel the love in that game?
06:22Yeah, it was good.
06:23Obviously we know a lot of Indians living in the US right now, and I think that, let
06:29me see how to put it.
06:30Let me see how to put it.
06:31I think they want to support both teams.
06:34I think when they moved to USA, they probably didn't know that USA had a team, and then
06:38they find out USA had a team, and they fall in love with the USA team and stuff like that.
06:42And obviously now we are playing at the highest level, but home is always home.
06:47So they're always back India, but I'm just happy that they're backing both of us and
06:50supporting both of us, for sure.
06:52Thanks.
06:54One more.
06:56We were lucky enough to kind of see post-match in that Pakistan victory.
07:01I think the impression was pretty low-key.
07:05You guys acted like you'd been there before.
07:08It was almost like a process.
07:10And there was celebration, like there always should be, but there definitely seemed to
07:13be kind of this feeling that this is just the natural progression of this team.
07:18How challenging now moving into the Super 8 is to kind of keep that perspective, knowing
07:23that the stakes are a little bit higher now?
07:26Well, to be honest with you, I think it starts with the belief that we could beat anybody.
07:30Even before the World Cup, we've had a few series, and obviously everybody knows we came
07:36up on top against Bangladesh, which is a really good team, to be honest.
07:39So we always believed before the World Cup that we could beat bigger teams or better
07:44teams, and obviously we showed it against Pakistan.
07:48And it's going to be the same mindset going into the Super 8 starting tomorrow.
07:51We'll play against South Africa.
07:52We want to play hard cricket.
07:53And if we come out on top, it's good.
07:55If we don't come out on top, then we learn.