Major League Cricket: All you need to know about USA’s first-ever T20 cricket league

The inaugural season of Major League Cricket (MLC) will kick off on July 13 with the clash of Texas Super Kings and Los Angeles Knight Riders. The final will be held on July 30. A total of 19 blockbuster T20 matches will be played in the tournament. MLC released the full schedule of the tournament via its official Twitter page on Monday. MLC is being touted as a cricket extravaganza and it is USA’s first-ever professional franchise cricket league. The organisers are hoping that MLC will provide new opportunities for American players by allowing them to play with and against some of the world's biggest cricketers.

MLC will also promote the game in the region in the run-up to the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by USA and the West Indies.  

Besides, there is tremendous excitement around the tournament as four of the six MLC franchises are owned by Indian Premier League teams.

___ ____ ____ ____... the first-ever schedule of #MajorLeagueCricket has been released _ __ _

Where will you be watching from?! pic.twitter.com/gPuUsKtrvk

— Major League Cricket (@MLCricket) June 12, 2023

The MLC draft was organized at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on March 19. A host of star international players including Jason Roy, Marcus Stoinis, Quinton de Kock and Aaron Finch were roped in on draft night. Reportedly, star Pakistani players, Azam Khan and Imad Wasim, have also agreed in principle to play for Seattle Orcas.

Let us take a look at all the participating teams, venues, and format of the league.

Major League Cricket Teams

Texas Super Kings (owned by Chennai Super Kings)

Los Angeles Knight Riders (Owned by Kolkata Knight Riders)

MI New York (owned by Mumbai Indians)

Seattle Orcas (backed by co-owners of Delhi Capitals)

San Francisco Unicorns (partnership with Cricket Victoria)

Washington Freedom (partnership with Cricket New South Wales)

Major League Cricket Venues

MLC will be played at two venues – Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas and Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina.

Major League Cricket Format

Major League Cricket is divided into two legs. The first leg will witness eight league matches, which will be played at Texas’ Grand Prairie Stadium. The next seven league matches will be contested at North Carolina’s Church Street Park. Playoffs will be played at the Grand Prairie Stadium.

MLC will follow a format similar to the IPL. The top-four teams after the conclusion of the league stage will qualify for the playoffs. The playoffs will see a total of four matches including Eliminator, Qualifier, Challenger match and the Final.