Major League Cricket 2024: MI New York vs Seattle Orcas in season opener - full MLC schedule
MI New York are the defending champions, having defeated Seattle Orcas in the MLC 2023 final. Get full list of matches.
Cricket
Six teams will be in action in Major League Cricket 2024, scheduled to be held in the USA’s Texas and North Carolina from July 5 to 28.
Major League Cricket or MLC is a Twenty20 (T20) format cricket tournament and the American equivalent of the Indian Premier League. The inaugural MLC edition was held last year.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) also granted the MLC official List-A status starting from the 2024 season, making it the USA's official T20 league and America’s first world-class domestic tournament.
MI New York are the defending champions. They beat Seattle Orcas in the MLC 2023 final to become the inaugural Major League Cricket winners. The MLC 2024 season opener will witness a repeat of last year’s final as MI New York take on Seattle Orcas once again at Church Street Park in North Carolina.
Later on the same day, Texas Super Kings host the LA Knight Riders at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas.
Major League Cricket 2024 schedule
All in Indian Standard Time (IST)
The six teams will play 21 matches in a round-robin league format. The first 15 matches are split between the two venues - Church Street Park and Grand Prairie Stadium. The final six group matches and the knockout fixtures, however, will be held at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas.
The teams will play seven matches each in the league phase after which the top four sides will progress to the playoffs, which includes IPL-style qualifier and eliminator matches. The MLC 2024 final will be held at the Grand Prairie Stadium on July 29.
Four of the six MLC teams are owned by franchises of the Indian Premier League (IPL). This includes MI New York (Mumbai Indians), Texas Super Kings (Chennai Super Kings), LA Knight Riders (Kolkata Knight Riders) and the Seattle Orcas (Delhi Capitals). The other two teams are San Francisco Unicorns and Washington Freedom.
All six teams will have some top international cricketers in their ranks for MLC 2024. MI New York boast West Indian batter Kieron Pollard in their roster while South African pair Wayne Parnell and Quinton de Kock will play for Seattle Orcas.
The Texas Super Kings squad is headlined by South African ace Faf du Plessis while West Indian off-spinner Sunil Narine will spearhead the LA Knight Riders campaign.
Washington Freedom, coached by Ricky Ponting, features a stacked Australian presence with Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Travis Head in their ranks. New Zealand batter Finn Allen has joined the San Francisco Unicorns.