From left: USA Captain Monank Patel and Canada Captain Saad Bin Zafar.
The 2024 ICC T20 World Cup will get underway on Saturday, June 1 with an exciting clash between North American neighbours the USA and Canada at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
This will be the second appearance at a T20 World Cup for the Canadians while this will be the joint-hosts first time appearing at a T20 World Cup.
The teams most recently played a five-match T20I series from April 7-13 in the USA with the hosts coming out 4-0 winners.
The top run-scorer in that series was Jamaican-born Canada batsman Aaron Johnson with 124 runs in four innings at an average of 31 and a strike rate of 144.18.
The next two best batsmen were India-born USA skipper Monank Patel and Steven Taylor, both of the USA, who finished with 120 runs and 115 runs in three innings each.
Overall, Patel has 441 runs in 25 T20Is at an average of 22.05 including a pair of fifties.
Taylor, in 24 T20Is, has 742 runs at an average of 41.22 with a hundred and four fifties. He can also contribute with ball in hand having taken 11 wickets at an economy of 5.32 during his 24 games.
South Africa-born ISA batsman Andries Gous was the only other batsman to score more than 100 runs in the series with 11 runs in three innings.
Gous has appeared in just six T20Is, scoring 161 runs at an average of 26.83 with two fifties.
Another key player for the Americans will be former New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson. Although he didn't light the world on fire when the two teams last met, his ability to hit the ball a long way and send down sone overs of left arm pace could be vital to the American charge.
As far as wickets go, former India Under-19 representative Harmeet Singh finished with six wickets in four games for the hosts while South Africa-born Shadley van Schalkwyk finished with similar returns for the USA.
Canada’s best bowler in the series was Pakistan-born Saad Bin Zafar with five wickets from four games.
All these players will be crucial to the chances of either team kicking off the World Cup with a win.
The hosts should also come into the game with a world of confidence after producing a 2-1 series victory over Bangladesh from May 21-25 in the USA.
The Canadians won their only warm-up fixture ahead of the showpiece event with a 63-run win over Nepal in Dallas on May 27 while the Americans have had both their scheduled warm-up games abandoned without a ball being bowled.
The World Cup is scheduled to run from June 1-29 in the West Indies and the USA.
Bradley Jacks is a budding journalist and an avid sports fan. His love of research and sports has led him to SportsMax.tv, a place where those passions work hand in hand to allow him to produce content.
Stokes returns as England include uncapped duo in squad for Pakistan tour
England captain Ben Stokes is back in the squad for their tour of Pakistan in October, with uncapped duo Brydon Carse and Jordan Cox both included.
Stokes missed England's 2-1 series win over Sri Lanka this month with a hamstring injury and is continuing his recovery, as is opener Zak Crawley, who is also back after missing it with a broken finger.
Durham fast bowler Carse has made 14 ODI appearances and played three T20Is for England, while Essex batter Cox is expected to make his T20I debut against Australia on Wednesday.
Spinners Rehan Ahmed and Jack Leach, who has not played since January, are recalled, having also played in the 3-0 Test series away to Pakistan in 2022.
Seamer Josh Hull is included in the squad for his first senior tour after making his Test debut at The Oval.
Dan Lawrence, who was given the opportunity to open in Crawley's absence, struggled to make an impact and registered a highest score of just 35 in six innings, with that coming in England’s final Test, which they lost on Monday.
England's tour of Pakistan begins with the first Test on October 7.
England squad for Pakistan tour: Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.
De Silva lauds Sri Lanka's bowlers in 'special' England victory
Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva labelled his side's triumph over England as "special" following their eight-wicket win in the final Test at The Oval.
Pathum Nissanka's unbeaten century led the tourists to victory, having started day four needing just 125 runs with nine wickets in hand.
Despite the loss of Kusal Mendis (39), Sri Lanka were able to halt their seven-match losing streak in Tests against England, claiming their first win against them since June 2014.
Nissanka's unbeaten 127 from 124 deliveries also made him only the fourth batter to log a strike rate of more than 100 when scoring a ton in men's Tests.
De Silva hailed Sri Lanka's resilience in claiming the deserved victory, believing his opening batsman is the best in the business for the Lions.
"It is very special, winning in England. The boys were tough enough to handle the pressure and get into some scenarios," De Silva told BBC Sport.
"It is not comfortable. There was hard work put in by the bowlers and batters. We were there in every match - had positive points. The boys wanted to win in the end.
"Credit to all of the bowlers. They have been on target from ball one. In the second innings, they were spot on.
"He [Nissanka] was in form the last couple of years and doing well in white-ball format. He has proved he is the best opener in Sri Lanka right now."
Kamindu Mendis, who struck 113 from 183 deliveries in the Lions' five-wicket defeat in the first Test, was handed Sri Lanka's Player of the Series after the triumph.
Mendis was consistent with the bat throughout the series, scoring 267 runs across the five innings he was in at the crease.
"It's a good win in these conditions. We did really well, especially the seamers and the batters did really well today," Mendis said.
"In these conditions, you have to face very difficult situations but I just wanted to enjoy it. That's it.
"I just made small changes, not big ones. It's a big deal but you have to be confident in your ability and enjoy your game.
"It's always a challenge facing seamers in England."
Sri Lanka's attentions will now turn to a two-match Test series on home soil against New Zealand, starting on September 18 at the Galle International Stadium.
'Coldplay can't be number one every week' – Root confident in England's approach
England have much to be positive about despite losing the final Test of their three-match series against Sri Lanka.
That is the view of Joe Root, who was named England's Player of the Series.
England were firmly second best as they lost by eight wickets at The Oval in the third Test, with Sri Lanka picking up just their fourth win in the longest format on English soil.
Yet after winning the first two Tests, and their three matches against West Indies earlier in the summer, England have plenty to be happy with, so says Root, who used a musical comparison to emphasise his point.
"Not so much this week, but it has been a good summer," Root told BBC Sport.
"We have played some really good cricket along the way. We have had new faces come into the team and some really exciting prospects off the back of that. We are constantly learning and evolving as a group, and it is nice to contribute to that.
"I don't think we played our best cricket this week and that is going to happen from time to time. Coldplay can't be number one every week.
"My point being is we are always trying to move the game forward. We wanted to keep our catchers in and as batters want to find ways of putting the opposition under pressure.
"We are not always going to get it right all of the time. For 90% of the summer we have. We have shown what a good team we can be when we play in that matter.
"It is important we are authentic to what we are as a team and what brings out the best in our individual players."
Root plundered 375 runs across six innings in the series, including two hundreds in the second Test.
However, only scoring 25 in the third Test means he is 14 runs short of 1,000 for 2024.
He will likely get the chance to surpass that milestone, and equal Alastair Cook as the only other English player to score 1,000+ runs in five calendar years, when England tour Pakistan in October.
"You can laud it when it comes off," Root continued on England's approach. "When it doesn't always come off it might not look like traditional dismissals, but [Pathum] Nissanka was hitting over mid-on and mid-off last night.
"When you are 127 not out you can look back and say what a brilliant innings it was. He was brave enough to take the challenge on and that is what we pride ourselves on as well - how can you knock bowlers off a length, how can you make it difficult for them to build pressure on you.
"Some of our guys have a different method to how I would do it and that is what makes us such a good team when we are at our best, because we compliment each other really well and find a different way of getting teams to bowl away from where the danger is.
"Over the last couple of years, that is what has made us have the success we have had."
England's focus now switches to an ODI series against Australia, with bowler Gus Atkinson having been rested after sustaining an injury at The Oval.
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