The East Bay Blazers (more commonly known as the Bay Blazers) are an

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

n professional

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

franchise

cricket team Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by strikin ...

that compete in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). The team is based in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket. The franchise is owned by Premkumar Suri and Vivek Tummalapalli. The team's home ground is Santa Clara Cricket Field, located in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

. Former Sri Lankan

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er Angelo Perera currently helms

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

cy duties, while

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

international Sanjay Krishnamurthi helms

vice-captain Vice-captain, alternate captain (ice hockey) or vice-skip (curling) may refer to a role in a number of sports immediately below the role of captain. The vice-captain may have a number of different roles, including substituting as captain when the re ...

cy duties.

South African __NOTOC__ South African may relate to: * The nation of South Africa * South African Airways * South African English * South African people * Languages of South Africa * Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the Afric ...

cricketer David White and American international Sanjay Krishnamurthi currently lead the batting and bowling leaderboards with 1,001 runs and 29 wickets respectively.

Franchise history

Background

Talks of an

league started in November 2018 just before

USA Cricket USA Cricket (USAC) is the governing body of cricket in the United States. USA Cricket operates all of the United States national representative cricket sides, including the men's and women's national teams and youth teams, as well as Minor Lea ...

became the new governing body of cricket in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In May 2021,

announced they had accepted a bid by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) for a

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1 billion investment covering the league and other investments benefitting the U.S. national teams. In an Annual General Meeting on February 21, 2020, it was announced that

was planning to launch

Major League Cricket Major League Cricket (MLC) is an upcoming professional Twenty20 cricket league in the United States. Operated by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) and sanctioned by USA Cricket, it plans to begin play on July 13, 2023, with six teams in major ...

in 2021 and Minor League Cricket that summer, but it was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and due to the lack of high-quality cricket stadiums in the USA.

was pushed to a summer-2023 launch and Minor League Cricket was pushed back to July 31, 2021.

CEO Iain Higgins also pointed out cities such as

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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 in ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

with a large cricket fanbase, and targeted them among others as launch cities for Minor League Cricket.

Exhibition league

In July 2020, the player registration for the Minor League Cricket exhibition league began. On August 15, 2020,

announced the teams participating in the exhibition league matches, also listing the owners for each team. The draft for the exhibition league began on August 22, 2020, with the Bay Blazers releasing their squad on August 24. Rusty Theron was later named as captain for the Bay Blazers for the exhibition league.

2021 season

After the conclusion of the exhibition league,

announced that they were planning to launch the inaugural season of Minor League Cricket in spring 2021. Ahead of the official season, which was announced to kick off on July 31, the Grizzlies announced David White as

with Rusty Theron helming

duties. Throughout the group stage, the Blazers lost to the

Strikers Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, the

Grizzlies Grizzlies may refer to: *Grizzly bears Sports ; Sports teams named after the grizzly bear: United States: * Memphis Grizzlies, a National Basketball Association team in Memphis, Tennessee * Fresno Grizzlies, a Triple-A minor league baseball team b ...

twice, and the Stars once, but won against the Catchers once, and the Blasters, the Lashings, the Surf Riders, and the

Seattle Thunderbolts The Seattle Thunderbolts are an American professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that compete in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). The team is based in Seattle, Washington. It was formed in 2021 as part of 3 new teams to compete in Minor League ...

twice. The Blazers finished 3rd at the end of the group stage, thus not qualifying for the finals.

2022 season

Ahead of the 2022 season,

announced that the draft for that season would take place on May 12. Ahead of the official season, it was announced that former Sri Lankan cricketer Angelo Perera and American international Sanjay Krishnamurthi would replace David White and Rusty Theron as

and

respectively throughout the season. Throughout the season, the Blazers lost once against the Mustangs, won once and lost once against the

and the

Thunderbolts A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hell ...

, won once against the Lashings, Blasters and the Lone Star Athletics, and won twice against the Blasters,

, and the Surf Riders. The Blazers finished third overall in their division, marginally missing out on the play-offs to the

due to an inferior net run rate (NRR).

Current squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold. * denotes a player who is currently unavailable for selection. * denotes a player who is unavailable for rest of the season

Statistics

Most runs

Source
CricClubs
Last updated: 8 March 2023

Most wickets