After the UAE’s ILT20 earlier this year, Major League Cricket (MLC), the USA’s season-long T20 competition, has become the second Associate-run franchise league to receive List A status from the ICC.
Due to the new status, the MLC will be acknowledged as a legitimate T20 league and official format statistics will now be based on tournament playing records. Tournament director Justin Geale told ESPNcricinfo, “We are really excited about the news as it’s a recognition of the standard and high quality of players taking part in the tournament.” “By giving the tournament MLC List A status for the next season, it helps to recognise its strength and rising prominence, which in turn will help to improve the sport’s credibility in the United States internationally.
“For me, though, the most crucial aspect is that it guarantees that the careers of some of the top players in the world are fairly represented in their career statistics, alongside those of their peers.
Since cricket in the USA doesn’t always fit into a mould, I’m really grateful to the ICC for taking the time to examine it. We take great pride in being an Associate nation, one that has a special potential ahead of us. With the approaching World Cup and a strong season, we hope to be able to keep laying the groundwork for the sport’s expansion and eventual success in the United States.”
One week following the conclusion of the T20 World Cup in Bridgetown on June 29, the 2024 edition of MLC will get underway on July 5. On June 1, however, the T20 World Cup kicks off in Dallas, USA. This is a crucial season for the game’s ongoing attempts to gain traction in the US market.
According to a story published in The Guardian on Monday, the MLC intends to increase the number of teams from six to ten in the coming years, increasing the number of games from 19 in 2023 to 34 by 2025. This season’s schedule already includes twenty-five games.
According to MLC CEO Vijay Srinivasan, “it was always intended to be a 10-team league,” as reported by the Guardian. According to studies, our nation is large enough and has a large enough population to accommodate ten teams, therefore that is our strategy. In our first season, we played 19 games; in our second, we will play 25. Next year, we hope to reach 34, and we plan to continue growing progressively.”
According to Srinivasan, the league is scheduled to begin in early June of 2025, coinciding with the Hundred in 2024.
“Ultimately for us, our ideal calendar is to start much earlier, in the late spring or early summer,” added Srinivasan. “I believe our sweet spot would be to start in early June, which is when we have the US school holidays, and go into July, since the Indian Premier League ends in late May. We would like to set up our window in such manner.”
An early June start could mean overlap with the T20 Blast but also avoid a clash with the Hundred’s July-August schedule. When Jason Roy chose to play in the MLC instead of continuing with his ECB contract, the scheduling conflict gained significant attention during the previous English summer. Roy later joined LA Knight Riders, who share ownership with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who won their third IPL title on Sunday.
The MLC ended two days prior to the Hundred’s commencement last year; however, this year, the two leagues will overlap by six days, with the MLC ending on July 28 and the Hundred beginning on July 23. Therefore, up to half of the Hundred’s foreign players may arrive in the UK once the MLC concludes. Prior to the commencement of the competition, twelve of the twenty-four international players with contracts in the men’s Hundred have already been revealed as signings or retentions in MLC; other announcements may be made.
The proprietors of the Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, and Delhi Capitals are the owners of four of the six teams in the MLC.
The inaugural season, captained by Nicholas Pooran, ran from July 13 to July 31. It consisted of 15 group-stage games, four playoff games, and a trophy presentation by MI New York. The Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas and the Church Street Park Stadium in Morrisville, which hosted the first season, will serve as the venues for the second season’s games.