The 2023 Major League Cricket season (also known as MLC 2023) was the inaugural season of Major League Cricket,[1] a franchise Twenty20 cricket league established in 2019 by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) in the United States.[2] The season was hosted at two venues, Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas and Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina.[3] The season was played from 13 to 30 July 2023,[4] with MI New York defeating the Seattle Orcas by seven wickets to win the inaugural title.[5][6]
| Dates | 13 – 30 July 2023 |
|---|---|
| Administrator(s) | American Cricket Enterprises USA Cricket |
| Cricket format | Twenty20 |
| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin and play-offs |
| Host(s) |  United States |
| Champions | MI New York (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Seattle Orcas |
| Participants | 6 |
| Matches | 19 |
| Attendance | 70,000 (3,684 per match) |
| Player of the series | Nicholas Pooran (MI New York) |
| Most runs | Nicholas Pooran (MI New York) (388) |
| Most wickets | Trent Boult (MI New York) (22) |
| Official website | majorleaguecricket.com |
The tournament surpassed expectations financially, generating a reported $8 million in revenue.[7] The tournament also garnered positive and optimistic outlooks on the future of cricket in the United States.[8][9]
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.[10] 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.[11][12]
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.[13][14] The draft for the season was then held on March 19, with Harmeet Singh being picked first overall and Aaron Finch and Quinton de Kock among others highlighting the draft.[15][16] In the buildup to the season opener, teams signed multiple other players including Jason Roy, Adam Zampa and Moises Henriques.[17]
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.[18][19] Tournament fixtures were announced on June 12—nearly two months later.[20][21] 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,[22][23] 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.[24]
Teams
Teams were announced by MLC in March 2023, with team coaches and captains being announced in the months following.[14]
| Franchise | Head coach | Captain |
|---|---|---|
| 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.[25][26]
- 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.[27] Rayudu was replaced by former CSK teammate Imran Tahir.[28]
- 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".[29] He was replaced in the squad by Tanveer Sangha.[30]
- 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.[31]
- Sikandar Raza withdrew from Major League Cricket due to it clashing with the 2023 Zim Afro T10.[citation needed]
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
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle Orcas | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0.725 | Advanced to Qualifier |
| 2 | Texas Super Kings | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0.570 | |
| 3 | Washington Freedom | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0.097 | Advanced to Eliminator |
| 4 | MI New York | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1.004 | |
| 5 | San Francisco Unicorns | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | −0.303 | |
| 6 | Los Angeles Knight Riders | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | −2.028 |
League stage
Texas Super Kings 181/6 (20 overs) | v | Los Angeles Knight Riders 112 (14 overs) |
- Los Angeles Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
San Francisco Unicorns 215/5 (20 overs) | v | MI New York 193/5 (20 overs) |
- San Francisco Unicorns won the toss and elected to bat.
Washington Freedom 144/7 (20 overs) | v | Seattle Orcas 148/5 (19.4 overs) |
- Seattle Orcas won the toss and elected to field.
Seattle Orcas 177/4 (20 overs) | v | San Francisco Unicorns 142 (17.5 overs) |
- Seattle Orcas won the toss and elected to bat.
Washington Freedom 163/5 (20 overs) | v | Texas Super Kings 157/7 (20 overs) |
- Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to bat.
MI New York 155/8 (20 overs) | v | Los Angeles Knight Riders 50 (13.5 overs) |
- MI New York won the toss and elected to bat.
Texas Super Kings 154/7 (20 overs) | v | MI New York 137/8 (20 overs) |
- Texas Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat.
San Francisco Unicorns 212/7 (20 overs) | v | Los Angeles Knight Riders 191/5 (20 overs) |
- San Francisco Unicorns won the toss and elected to bat.
Los Angeles Knight Riders 175/7 (20 overs) | v | Washington Freedom 177/4 (18.1 overs) |
- Washington Freedom won the toss elected to field.
- Los Angeles Knight Riders were eliminated as a result of this match.
Texas Super Kings 127 (20 overs) | v | Seattle Orcas 128/2 (16 overs) |
- Seattle Orcas won the toss and elected to field.
- Seattle Orcas qualified for the play-offs as a result of this match.
Washington Freedom 133/8 (20 overs) | v | San Francisco Unicorns 103 (19.5 overs) |
- San Francisco Unicorns won the toss and elected to field.
- Washington Freedom qualified for the play-offs as a result of this match.
Seattle Orcas 170/6 (20 overs) | v | Los Angeles Knight Riders 175/8 (19.1 overs) |
- Los Angeles Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
Washington Freedom 160/6 (20 overs) | v | MI New York 161/2 (15.3 overs) |
- MI New York won the toss and elected to field.
San Francisco Unicorns 171/8 (20 overs) | v | Texas Super Kings 172/7 (19.1 overs) |
- San Francisco Unicorns won the toss and elected to bat.
- Texas Super Kings qualified for the play-offs as a result of this match.
MI New York 194/8 (20 overs) | v | Seattle Orcas 195/8 (19.2 overs) |
- Seattle Orcas won the toss and elected to field.
- MI New York qualified for the play-offs and San Francisco Unicorns were eliminated as a result of this match.
Play-offs
| Qualifier / Eliminator | Challenger | Final | |||||||||||
| July 27, 2023 – Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas, 19:30 CDT | July 30, 2023 – Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas, 19:30 CDT | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Seattle Orcas | 127/1 (15 overs) | QW | Seattle Orcas | 183/9 (20 overs) | ||||||||
| 2 | Texas Super Kings | 126/9 (20 overs) | July 28, 2023 – Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas, 19:30 CDT | CW | MI New York | 184/3 (16 overs) | |||||||
| QL | Texas Super Kings | 158 (20 overs) | |||||||||||
| July 27, 2023 – Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas, 15:30 CDT | EW | MI New York | 162/4 (19 overs) | ||||||||||
| 3 | Washington Freedom | 125/9 (20 overs) | |||||||||||
| 4 | MI New York | 141/7 (20 overs) | |||||||||||
MI New York 141/7 (20 overs) | v | Washington Freedom 125/9 (20 overs) |
- Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to field.
Texas Super Kings 126/9 (20 overs) | v | Seattle Orcas 127/1 (15 overs) |
- Texas Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat.
Texas Super Kings 158 (20 overs) | v | MI New York 162/4 (19 overs) |
- MI New York won the toss and elected to field.
Final
Seattle Orcas 183/9 (20 overs) | v | MI New York 184/3 (16 overs) |
- MI New York won the toss and elected to field.
- The MI New York won the inaugural Major League Cricket tournament as a result of this match.
Statistics
Most runs
| Player | Team | Innings | Runs | High score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholas Pooran | MI New York | 8 | 388 | 137* |
| Quinton de Kock | Seattle Orcas | 7 | 264 | 88* |
| Heinrich Klaasen | 6 | 235 | 110* | |
| Devon Conway | Texas Super Kings | 7 | 221 | 74 |
| Tim David | MI New York | 7 | 209 | 53* |
Most wickets
| Player | Team | Matches | Wickets | Best bowling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trent Boult | MI New York | 8 | 22 | 4/20 |
| Cameron Gannon | Seattle Orcas | 7 | 11 | 4/23 |
| Andrew Tye | 7 | 11 | 3/32 | |
| Imad Wasim | 7 | 10 | 2/23 | |
| Saurabh Netravalkar | Washington Freedom | 6 | 10 | 6/9 |
Awards
On July 28, 2023, a list of end of season awards was announced.[35]
| Name | Team | Award |
|---|---|---|
| Nicholas Pooran | MI New York | Most Valuable Player |
| Nicholas Pooran | MI New York | Leading run scorer |
| Trent Boult | MI New York | Leading wicket taker |
| Cameron Gannon | Seattle Orcas | Domestic 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.[36]
| Country | Television channel | Internet streaming applications |
|---|---|---|
| India[37][38] | Sports18 | JioCinema |
| United States & Canada[39] | Willow TV | |
| Australia[40] | Fox Cricket | |
| Pakistan[41] | A Sports |