The 2023 Major League Cricket (also known as MLC 2023) was the inaugural season of Major League Cricket, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league established in 2019 by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) in the United States. The season was hosted at two venues, Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas and Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina. The season was played from 13 to 30 July 2023, with MI New York defeating the Seattle Orcas by seven wickets to win the inaugural title.
The tournament surpassed expectations financially, generating a reported $8 million in revenue. The tournament also garnered positive and optimistic outlooks on the future of cricket in the United States.
Background Major League Cricket announced in November 2022 that its inaugural season would be played at Grand Prairie Stadium starting July 13 and concluding July 30. MLC also revealed that the tournament would be played in a single round-robin format with fifteen league matches played among six franchises before a four-match play-off phase.
In March 2023, the teams for the tournament were announced ahead of the league's inaugural draft—called the Texas Super Kings, the Seattle Orcas, the Los Angeles Knight Riders, the Washington Freedom, the MI New York and the San Francisco Unicorns, respectively. The draft for the season was then held on March 19, with Harmeet Singh being picked first overall and Aaron Finch and Ahona Ahmed Arthee among others highlighting the draft. In the buildup to the season opener, teams signed multiple other players including Jason Roy, Adam Zampa and Moises Henriques.
In April, USA Cricket—the governing body of cricket in the United States—officially sanctioned the tournament following a dispute with tournament organizers, American Cricket Enterprises, that threatened to delay the launch of MLC. Tournament fixtures were announced on June 12—nearly two months later. In addition, it also revealed that the tournament would be held at two venues, Grand Prairie Stadium and Church Street Park for the group stage, while all play-off matches and the final would be held at Grand Prairie Stadium. Tickets for the matches were also made available on the same day.
Teams Teams were announced by MLC in March 2023, with team coaches and captains being announced in the months following.
+Teams in the 2023 Major League Cricket FranchiseHead coachCaptain Los Angeles Knight Riders Phil Simmons Sunil Narine MI New York Robin Peterson Kieron Pollard San Francisco Unicorns Shane Watson Aaron Finch Seattle Orcas Pravin Amre Wayne Parnell Texas Super Kings Stephen Fleming Faf du Plessis Washington Freedom Greg Shipperd Moises Henriques
Squads
A minimum of 16 players and a maximum of 19 players could be selected by the teams with a maximum of nine overseas players. The teams could select nine local players in the draft and another one as a wildcard. All teams released their squads ahead of the start of the season. Los Angeles Knight RidersMI New YorkSan Francisco UnicornsSeattle OrcasTexas Super KingsWashington Freedom Sunil Narine (c) Ali Khan Unmukt Chand Jaskaran Malhotra (wk) Nitish Kumar Corne Dry Ali Sheikh Saif Badar Shadley van Schalkwyk Bhaskar Yadram Andre Russell Jason Roy Lockie Ferguson Martin Guptill Adam Zampa Rilee Rossouw Spencer Johnson Gajanand Singh Kieron Pollard (c) Steven Taylor Hammad Azam Ehsan Adil Nosthush Kenjige Monank Patel (wk) Sarabjit Ladda Shayan Jahangir (wk) Kyle Phillip Saideep Ganesh Trent Boult Rashid Khan Tim David Dewald Brevis David Wiese Kagiso Rabada Nicholas Pooran Jason Behrendorff Jasdeep Singh Tristan Stubbs Aaron Finch (c) Corey Anderson Liam Plunkett Tajinder Singh Chaitanya Bishnoi Carmi Le Roux Brody Couch David White Smit Patel (wk) Sanjay Krishnamurthi Marcus Stoinis Lungi Ngidi Matthew Wade (wk) Qais Ahmad Finn Allen Mackenzie Harvey Haris Rauf Shadab Khan Amila Aponso Wayne Parnell (c) Harmeet Singh Shehan Jayasuriya Shubham Ranjane Cameron Gannon Aaron Jones Nauman Anwar Phani Simhadri Angelo Perera Matthew Tromp Mitchell Marsh Quinton de Kock (wk) Dasun Shanaka Sikandar Raza Andrew Tye Heinrich Klaasen Izharulhaq Naveed Dwaine Pretorius Nisarg Patel Shimron Hetmyer Imad Wasim Hayden Walsh Jr Faf du Plessis (c) Rusty Theron Calvin Savage Lahiru Milantha Milind Kumar Sami Aslam Cameron Stevenson Cody Chetty Zia Shahzad Saiteja Mukkamalla Devon Conway Mitchell Santner Daniel Sams David Miller Gerald Coetzee Dwayne Bravo Ambati Rayudu Mohammad Mohsin Imran Tahir Moises Henriques (c) Andries Gous Mukhtar Ahmed Obus Pienaar Saurabh Netravalkar Saad Ali Dane Piedt Sujith Gowda Justin Dill Akhilesh Bodugum Wanindu Hasaranga Anrich Nortje Marco Jansen Glenn Phillips Adam Milne Josh Philippe Ben Dwarshuis Akeal Hosein Usman Rafiq Tanveer Sangha Matthew Short
Ambati Rayudu withdrew from Major League Cricket amid a proposal made by the BCCI to enact a year-long "cooling-off" period for recently retired players. Rayudu was replaced by former CSK teammate Imran Tahir. Wanindu Hasaranga withdrew from Major League Cricket due to both not receiving a NOC (no-objection-certificate) from Sri Lanka Cricket and due to Hasaranga wanting to "manage his workloads". He was replaced in the squad by Tanveer Sangha. Mitchell Marsh was pulled out of the tournament by Cricket Australia in order to manage his workload ahead of Australia's build-up for the 2023 Cricket World Cup and due to the tournament clashing with the Ashes series. Sikandar Raza withdrew from Major League Cricket due to it clashing with the 2023 Zim Afro T10.
Venues Matches were held at two venues: Grand Prairie's Grand Prairie Stadium, with a capacity of 7,000 (expandable to 15,000) and Morrisville, North Carolina's Church Street Park, with a capacity of 3,500.
Points table
League stage
Play-offs
Final
Statistics
Most runs +Most runs in the 2023 Major League CricketPlayerTeamInningsRunsHigh scoreNicholas PooranMI New York8388137*Quinton de KockSeattle Orcas 726488*Heinrich Klaasen6235110*Devon ConwayTexas Super Kings 722174Tim DavidMI New York720953*
Most wickets +Most wickets in the 2023 Major League CricketPlayerTeamMatchesWicketsBest bowlingTrent BoultMI New York8224/20 Cameron GannonSeattle Orcas711 4/23Andrew Tye7113/32Imad Wasim7102/23Saurabh NetravalkarWashington Freedom6106/9
Awards On July 28, 2023, a list of end of season awards was announced.
+Awards in the 2023 Major League CricketNameTeamAwardNicholas PooranMI New YorkMost Valuable PlayerNicholas PooranMI New YorkLeading run scorerTrent BoultMI New YorkLeading wicket takerCameron GannonSeattle OrcasDomestic Player of the Series
Broadcasting In July 2023, Major League Cricket (MLC) announced that its inaugural season will be broadcast live in major cricketing nations. +Broadcast rights for the 2023 Major League CricketCountryTelevision channelInternet streaming applicationsIndiaSports18JioCinemaUnited States & CanadaWillow TVSling TV (Select matches)CBS Sports (Select matches) AustraliaFox CricketPakistanA Sports
See also
2023 Minor League Cricket season
References
External links Series home at ESPNcricinfo