The Hollywood Master Blasters was an American professional Twenty20 cricket franchise that competed in Minor League Cricket (MiLC) till the 2022 season. The team was based in Los Angeles, California. It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket. The franchise is owned by Janak Patel. The team's home ground is the

Leo Magnus Cricket Complex The Leo Magnus Cricket Complex (LMCC) is a group of four cricket grounds located in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. The facility is also called Woodley Cricket Field(s) or Woodley Cricket Complex due to its l ...

, located in

Van Nuys Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, t ...

, California.

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 ...

veteran

Nisarg Patel Nisarg Patel (born April 20, 1988) is an Indian-born cricketer who plays for the United States national cricket team as a left-arm orthodox spin bowler. Personal life Patel was born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He attended school in India before movin ...

helms

captaincy A captaincy ( es, capitanía , pt, capitania , hr, kapetanija) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule ...

duties, with

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 ...

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 ...

Cody Chetty Cody Chetty (born 28 June 1991) is a South African former first-class cricketer who played for the Dolphins cricket team. He played primarily as a middle-order batsman. In August 2017, he was named in Durban Qalandars' squad for the first season ...

standing by as

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 ...

and Khalid Khan top the batting and bowling leaderboards with 470 runs and 13 wickets respectively.

Franchise history

Background

Talks of an American Twenty20 league started in November 2018 just before USA Cricket became the new governing body of cricket in the United States. In May 2021, USA Cricket 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 USA Cricket was planning to launch Major League Cricket in 2021 and Minor League Cricket that summer, but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and due to the lack of high-quality cricket stadiums in the USA. Major League Cricket was pushed to a summer-2023 launch and Minor League Cricket was pushed back to July 31, 2021. USA Cricket CEO Iain Higgins also pointed out cities such as New York City, Houston and Los Angeles 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, USA Cricket 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 Hollywood Master Blasters releasing their squad on August 24.

Amitoze Singh Amitoze Singh (born 14 February 1989) is an Indian cricketer who plays first-class cricket for Punjab. Amitoze is a right-hand batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler. He was one of the domestic signings of Mumbai Indians Mumbai Indians ...

was later named as captain for the Hollywood Master Blasters for the exhibition league. However, the Blasters didn't play a single game due to COVID-19 restrictions.

2021 season

After the conclusion of the exhibition league, USA Cricket 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 Lashings announced

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 ...

with

helming

duties. In their first match of the season, the Blasters lost by 5 wickets to the Surf Riders. The Blasters only won twice throughout the league, once against 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 ...

, and once against the

Lashings Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on a ...

. They lost against the Grizzlies twice, the

, 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 ...

twice, the Blazers twice, the Surf Riders, the

, the Hurricanes, the Athletics, and the Mustangs. The Blasters finished off with 2 wins and 13 losses, finishing bottom of the table in their group, thus missing the play-offs.

2022 season

Ahead of the 2022 season, Major League Cricket announced that the draft for that season would take place on May 12. This was also the final season for the Franchise.

Current squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold.

References

{{Cricket in the United States Minor League Cricket teams Cricket teams in Los Angeles Cricket clubs established in 2020 2020 establishments in California