ESPNcricinfo Awards 2024 Associate men's batting winner: The lovely Jones

When Canada posted 194 in the tournament opener and then had USA at a precarious 42 for 2 in the seventh over, the 6000 fans in the Dallas ground couldn't have imagined what would unfold next. Jones walked in and smashed an unbeaten 94 off just 40 balls, producing an innings so commanding that it made a challenging chase look easy.

His explosive spree saw him clear the boundary ten times, celebrating nearly every shot with enthusiastic fist pumps. Jones also found a perfect partner in Andries Gous, with whom he put together a 131-run stand at a blistering run rate of 14.29 - the highest of any century partnership in T20 World Cup history - and it allowed USA to chase down the target with 14 balls to spare.

Jones, who took five balls to get off the mark, particularly dominated Canada's spinners, smashing Saad Bin Zafar and Nikhil Dutta for 61 runs off 22 balls. He unleashed a variety of shots, from slog sweeps to reverse sweeps, and even charged down the pitch to dictate play.

With USA needing 14 runs off the last three overs, Jones sealed the game in style, hitting a four and two sixes off four balls. He sank to his knees with his head tilted to the sky, a la Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption: he had just pulled off a different kind of jailbreak.

It marked the beginning of a thrilling journey for the USA. They would go on to defeat Pakistan and reach the Super Eight, but Jones was the catalyst that put them on that path.

With 89 runs still needed, Jones kicked off the 13th over by launching Bin Zafar for six over long-on, followed by another over cow corner. On the next ball, Jones brought up the fastest T20I fifty by a USA player, in just 22 balls.

Then, on the final delivery of the over, he read the ball early and backed away to expose all three stumps, anticipating it would pitch outside leg. When it did, he sent it flying over deep midwicket. Twenty runs had come off the over and the pendulum had swung USA's way, the required run rate dropping from 11.12 to a more manageable 9.85.

1 Where Jones' 94 ranks on the table of highest scores by players from Associate teams at men's T20 World Cups.

2 The position of Jones' innings on the list of most sixes per innings in a men's T20 World Cup game. Only Chris Gayle has hit more in a World Cup match.

8 The number of sixes Jones hit off spinners in his innings. No batter has hit more sixes against spin in one innings.

"When I went out to bat, I told Gous, 'Right now we are in a spot of bother. If we want to win the game, we've got to be aggressive, we've got to be positive. Either we go down, die hard and we get bowled out for whatever score, or we try to get the score.'"
- Aaron Jones

Brandon McMullen
60 vs Australia, T20 World Cup, Gros Islet
It was the innings that nearly sent Australia crashing out of the tournament in the group stage. Entering the do-or-die game, Scotland had vowed not to be easy opponents, and their No. 3, McMullen, delivered with a scintillating 34-ball 60 to set a challenging target of 181.

Capitalising on Australia's dropped chances, McMullen launched Nathan Ellis and Mitchell Starc for sixes over the off side, then took on Australia's spinners,Adam Zampa, Ashton Agar, and Glenn Maxwell, sending them soaring for more maximums. But he fell to spin in the 12th over, rather prematurely and against the run of play. There was more heartbreak for McMullen and Scotland to follow, as Australia's clinched a nervy final-over win.