Minor League Cricket (branded as the

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Minor League Cricket Championship presented by

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for sponsorship reasons, and sometimes shortened to MiLC) is an American

Twenty20 cricket 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 inning ...

developmental league for

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 ...

which completed its first season in 2021, after it was delayed from a mid-to-late 2020 start 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 ...

. It consists of 26 teams from four regions. The league began its regional draft process in late-August 2020, and a series of exhibition games in September 2020. The draft for the league began on June 4, 2021. The Strikers won the inaugural finals against the New Jersey Stallions by 6

wickets In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

, with the Thunderbolts winning the 2022 finals against the Atlanta Fire by 10 runs.

History

Talks of an American

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 ...

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. In May 2021,

announced they had accepted a bid by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) for a $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 ACE was planning to launch its professional T20 league

in 2021, and a developmental league, Minor League Cricket that summer. USA Cricket CEO Iain Higgins stated that ACE had "demonstrated an understanding of the importance of addressing various fundamental issues within the domestic game in the United States", and listed a number of metropolitan areas that the developmental league planned to target for franchises. Both leagues would be delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Uni ...

, with Minor League Cricket being delayed to 2021, and Major League Cricket provisionally postponed to 2022 (in May 2021, Major League Cricket would be further-delayed to 2023 due to both the pandemic, and the need to develop more facilities). Minor League Cricket would still

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in 2020 with an exhibition league; the draft for the exhibition league began on August 22, 2020, with the teams releasing their squads on August 24. After the conclusion of the exhibition league, USA Cricket announced that they were planning to launch the inaugural season of Minor League Cricket in the spring of 2021. The season launched on July 31, 2021, and ran until October 3, 2021, where the Silicon Valley Strikers won the finals against the New Jersey Stallions by 6

to win the inaugural season title. The sanctioning body announced plans to establish

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leagues in the future. In February 2021, MLC announced plans for a youth version of Minor and Major League Cricket, as part of a pathway to give young cricketers the opportunity to play for official domestic teams and the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

. In June 2022, MLC announced the inaugural season of the Minor League Cricket Youth Tournament (shortened to MiLC Youth), with

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tapped as title sponsor for the tournament. The inaugural season of MiLC Youth was announced to be contested between 11 teams at the

Prairie View Cricket Complex The Prairie View Cricket Complex (PVCC) is a group of six cricket grounds located in the Waller County neighborhood of Houston, Texas, United States. The facility is joint-owned by Tanweer Ahmed and Major League Cricket. History In January 2 ...

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starting July 25, 2022. The finals for the inaugural season took place on July 29 at between the Dallas Mustangs and the

New Jersey Stallions The New Jersey Stallions were an American soccer team, founded in 1996, which competed in various divisions of the United Soccer Leagues until 2004, after which the team left the league and the franchise was terminated. The club originally star ...

,. in which the Stallions beat the Mustangs by 2 wickets. In January 2022, USA Cricket announced that the 2022 Minor League Cricket season would start on June 25, and conclude with the final on August 28. The 2022 finals were won by the Seattle Thunderbolts, who beat the Atlanta Fire by 10 runs to win their maiden MiLC title. It was also announced in June 2022 that the budget for the 2022 season was more than $5 million.

Current teams

Unlike Major League Cricket, Minor League Cricket uses privately owned franchises. American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) announced 24 teams and their owners on August 15, 2020. On June 3, 2021, ACE added 3 more teams. Additionally, the teams are part of 2 "conferences", which are each split into 2 "divisions". This consists of the Pacific Conference, split into the Western and Central divisions, and the Atlantic Conference, which is split into the Eastern and Southern divisions. For the 2022 season, the Chicago Catchers and the Atlanta Param Veers franchises were replaced by the Chicago Tigers and the Atlanta Lightning for the 2022 season, while the Austin Athletics and the Irving Mustangs were renamed the Lone Star Athletics and the Dallas Mustangs respectively. It was also announced that the Florida Beamers were on hiatus for the 2022 season, and as such, would not return for the 2022 season.

Venues

- Western Division (Pacific Conference) * DeepPink pog

- Central Division (Pacific Conference) * Lightgreen pog

- Eastern Division (Atlantic Conference) * Turquoise pog

- Southern Division (Atlantic Conference)

League structure

Teams in each division will play anywhere from 14 to 16 games in the league stage. Once the league stage is completed, the top two teams in each division will advance to the quarterfinals, wherein the top team in each division will face the 2nd-placed team in the other division of their conference for a best-of-three series. The remaining games will be regular knockout matches, with the semifinals sending one team from each conference to the final. The official schedule and the venues of the playoffs was released on September 20, 2021, by

. The inaugural season of Minor League Cricket had a total prize pool of $250,000, the highest ever in American cricket. This was increased to $350,000 for the 2022 season, $150,000 of which went to the tournament champions, the Seattle Thunderbolts.

Media

Matches are streamed by

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on its

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channel and the streaming platform

References