Twin 30-ball half-centuries by debutant Andries Gous and USA captain Monank Patel followed up a disciplined performance in the field led by Player of the Match Nosthush Kenjige's 3 for 21 as USA coasted to victory over Canada, though a scoring error resulted in two bonus runs credited to USA bringing the match to a premature result. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna in Prairie View, Texas (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
USA debutant Andries Gous and captain Monank Patel each struck 30-ball half-centuries to cap a dominant performance with both bat and ball for USA in a six-wicket win over Canada in the first T20I on Sunday at Prairie View Cricket Complex. Canada was sent in at the toss and bowled out for 132 behind a disciplined bowling effort led by Player of the Match Nosthush Kenjige, who claimed 3 for 21 in his four overs in addition to a runout at backward point. 
 
USA clinched victory with 15 balls to spare in spite of a scorekeeping error which saw USA awarded two bonus runs to the individual total of Aaron Jones and meant they actually finished on 131 runs, one short of Canada’s first innings total, instead of the target of 133. Canada management are understood to have submitted a formal complaint to ICC match referee Reon King over the scoring issue, though the match result was signed off by the umpiring panel and thus recorded as an official USA win. 
 

USA officially had five T20I debutants on the day. Aside from Gous and Kenjige, who played T20s for USA in 2018 before USA was given T20I status, the lineup also featured first time appearances for Shadley van Schalkwyk, Milind Kumar and Harmeet Singh. Kenjige’s day with the new ball started off in inauspicious fashion when he was driven down the ground for four before being slog swept for six by Aaron Johnson as part of an 11-run over. But Saurabh Netravalkar removed Johnson for 16 in the following over with a back of a length delivery miscued to Jessy Singh at mid-on. When Kenjige was reintroduced to the attack in the seventh over, he proceeded to keep Canada’s lineup pinned down, conceding just 10 runs across his final three overs while taking three wickets. 
 
The first of those Kenjige scalps came in the seventh over when Srimantha Wijeyeratne slog swept Kenjige flat and straight to van Schalkwyk at deep backward square leg for 9 to make it 31 for 2. Kenjige got into the act in the field in the following over when a mixup between Pargat Singh and Navneet Dhaliwal resulted in Dhaliwal setting off from the non-striker’s end for a dab by Pargat to backward point, only for Kenjige to swoop in and relay to Harmeet Singh over the non-striker’s stumps to remove the bails for a two-ball duck to Dhaliwal. 
 
Van Schalkwyk claimed his maiden T20I wicket for USA in the 11^th when Harsh Thaker edged behind for 13 to make it 62 for 4 before Kenjige claimed his second two balls later to start the 12^th when Pargat’s charge down the wicket was defeated by a quicker ball bowled wider outside off for a simple stumping by Monank. Kenjige completed his haul in the 14^th when Dilpreet Bajwa couldn’t keep out a length ball and was bowled for 4 to make it 72 for 6. 
 
Canada captain Saad Bin Zafar rallied his side back in the final six overs, top-scoring with 29 off 16 balls. Saad heaved a six off Netravalkar to start the 18^th over before uppercutting a slower ball over third man on the next delivery, but Netravalkar pinned him lbw with a yorker off the third ball of the frame to negate the threat. A flurry of wickets occurred across the final two overs as Jessy Singh got Dilon Heyliger to chop on for 6 to make it 122 for 8. Van Schalkwyk took his second in the final over getting Nicholas Kirton to drive to Milind at long-off for 27. A bye was taken off the final ball of the innings, but an attempt to take a second run off an overthrow was denied by Milind’s relay to Monank behind the stumps as Rishiv Joshi was the last man dismissed. 
 
Aside from Kenjige’s figures, van Schalkwyk returned a respectable 2 for 19 in his four overs on debut while Netravalkar claimed 2 for 30. Jessy ended with 1 for 31 in his four overs while left-arm spinner Harmeet returned figures of 0 for 21 in three overs in his debut. Steven Taylor bowled the remaining over for USA, conceding seven runs. 
 
Whereas Canada struggled to get going on what was generally a docile wicket, USA had no such issues, cruising to 47 for 0 in the Powerplay. After a pair of fours by Monank in the opening over bowled by Joshi, Taylor slog swept Thaker’s offspin for six in the second. Monank played a glorious lofted cover drive for six after a shimmy down the track against Canadian debutant medium pacer Uday Bhagwan in the fifth before Taylor flicked Heyliger over backward square leg for another six in the last over of the Powerplay. 
 
Taylor was finally dismissed for 22 by Kirton’s offspin in the seventh over to break the opening stand. A quicker ball darted down the leg side was swatted one-handed by Taylor to avoid a stumping, but the ball carried to Pargat at short fine leg who held onto a superb catch diving forward on the edge of the ring. 
 
Gous arrived and teamed with Monank for a 57-run second-wicket partnership to keep USA on course for victory. The signature moment came in the 12^th over when Gous heaved a pair of half-trackers from Thaker over the leg side for six before finishing the 16-run over with a smooth drive back past Thaker for four. 
 
Monank began the 13^th beating the cover sweeper with a drive to bring up his half-century, but fell four balls later skying a drive off Heyliger to Kirton at long-off. Aaron Jones arrived and blocked out his first five deliveries in the 14^th over for dot balls. But the scoring issue occurred to end the 13^th when the umpires called a five-ball over following the dismissal of Monank. Jones should have been on strike to face the final ball, but began the 14^th over off strike. In order to adjust the online scorecard to put Gous back on strike, Jones was credited with both a single off the would-be final ball of the 13^th as well as the first ball of the 14^th, even though he faced neither. It meant that USA was two runs ahead of where they should have been for the remainder of the chase. It resulted in Jones being incorrectly credited with 3 runs instead of 1 before being dismissed by Saad lbw on a failed reverse sweep to begin the 16^th. 
 
Gous pulled Heyliger for six off the first ball of the 18^th to bring up his half-century, then fell on the next delivery attempting to repeat the shot only for a miscue to flutter gently to Thaker inside the ring at square leg. Gajanand Singh then came out at No. 6 and played a flick over fine leg for the run that ended play, arguably in premature fashion. Milind ended on four not out at the opposite end. 
 
On the Canadian bowling card, Heyliger ended with 2 for 29 in 3.3 overs. Saad was credited with 1 for 23 in his four overs while Kirton ended with 1 for 14 in two. 
 
Both teams have an off day on Monday before resuming action in the second match of the series scheduled for 3 pm central time on Tuesday.