The 2023 Major League Cricket players' draft took place on March 19, 2023, at Johnson Space Center in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. The draft was conducted over 9 rounds via a "

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

" format, where the team order is reversed every round. Out of the 9 rounds, 8 were general draft picks, with the final round being exclusively for U-23 players. Out of the total of over 100 players who entered, a total of 54 players were drafted, with another 6 overseas players announced during the draft.

Rules

Each team had to mandatorily pick a U-23 player in the ninth round, irrespective of whether or not they selected one in rounds before. Each team also had only three minutes to select a player in rounds 1–5, with the time shortened to 2 minutes for rounds 6–9. Additionally, there were no trading of picks allowed during the draft.

Salary cap

The draft had fixed salary caps for each round, with the highest being $75,000 in the first round and the lowest being $2,500 in the ninth round. *First Round – $75,000 *Second Round – $65,000 *Third Round – $50,000 *Fourth Round – $40,000 *Fifth Round – $35,000 *Sixth Round – $25,000 *Seventh Round – $15,000 *Eighth Round – $10,000 *Ninth Round – $2,500

Draft order

Following a randomized order drew held at the Westin Oaks Houston on March 13, the Seattle Orcas had the first pick followed by the Washington Freedom, the MI New York, the San Francisco Unicorns, the Los Angeles Knight Riders, and the Texas Super Kings. As the draft was held in a "snake" format, the Super Kings then had the first pick in the second round, with the Orcas having the first pick again in the third.

Draft selections

Overseas signings

During the draft, a total of 6 overseas players were announced. Among these were Aaron Finch and

Marcus Stoinis Marcus Peter Stoinis (born 16 August 1989) is an Australian cricketer who plays limited overs cricket for the Australian national team. He is contracted to Western Australia and Melbourne Stars domestically, and has previously also played for P ...

, who are set to play for the San Francisco Unicorns,

Mitchell Marsh Mitchell Ross Marsh (born 20 October 1991) is an Australian international cricketer. Marsh has represented Australia in all three forms of cricket, making his debut during the 2011–12 season. Personal life Marsh is the second son of Geoff Ma ...

and

Quinton de Kock Quinton de Kock (born 17 December 1992) is a South African cricketer and former captain of the Proteas in all three formats. He currently plays for South Africa in limited overs cricket, Titans at the domestic level, and Lucknow Super Gian ...

, who are set to play for the Seattle Orcas, and

Wanindu Hasaranga Pinnaduwage Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva (born 29 July 1997), better known as Wanindu Hasaranga, is a Sri Lankan international cricketer who plays for the Sri Lanka cricket team in white ball cricket as a bowling All rounder. He is a Right-arm le ...

and

Anrich Nortje Anrich Arno Nortje (born 16 November 1993) is a South African professional cricketer. He made his international debut for the South Africa cricket team in March 2019. In July 2020, Nortje was named the newcomer of the year at Cricket South Afric ...

who are set to play for the Washington Freedom.

Squads

These were the squads for each team following the draft.

References

{{Authority control Cricket in the United States Major League Cricket United States cricket in the 21st century Cricket drafts March 2023 events in the United States 2023 in cricket