The Lone Star Athletics (previously the Austin Athletics) are an American 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

Houston, Texas 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 ...

. It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket. The franchise is owned by Kuldeep Patel and Sakhi Muhammad. The team's home ground is Moosa Stadium, located in Pearland, Texas. Team captain Sidhesh Pathare 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, while Shayan Jahangir stands 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 ...

. Captain Nitish Kumar and American cricketer Laksh Parikh lead the bowling and batting leaderboards with 407 runs and 20 wickets respectively.

Franchise history

Background

Talks of an American

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

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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 Lone Star Athletics releasing their squad on August 24.

Willem Ludick Willem Ludick (born 20 March 1997) is a South African cricketer who has played domestic cricket in New Zealand. In 2020, Ludick had moved to Texas, with an aim of possibly representing the United States. He is the grandson of South African Olymp ...

was later named as captain for the Lone Star Athletics 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 Athletics announced Sidhesh Pathare as

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 Shayan Jahangir helming

duties. Throughout the group stage, the Athletics won twice against the Catchers, the Mustangs, the Stars, and the Americans, but they won once against the

Master Blasters ''Master Blasters'' is an American game show that debuted on July 27, 2005. A team of challengers competes against the home team, the Master Blasters, each week to construct rocket-based machines in a timed competition. The series premiered on th ...

, the Lashings, the Surf Riders, and the Hurricanes. However, the Athletics lost twice against the Chicago Blasters and the Hurricanes. The Athletics' good performance in the group stage allowed for them to proceed to the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, the Athletics were matched up with eventual title winners,

Silicon Valley Strikers The Silicon Valley Strikers are an American professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that compete in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). The team is based in Silicon Valley, California. It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete i ...

. However, the Athletics lost to the Strikers in a best-of-three game series 2-1.

2022 season

Ahead of the 2022 season,

announced that it was renaming the Austin Athletics to the Lone Star Athletics. MLC also announced that the draft for that season would take place on May 12.

Current squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold.

References

{{Cricket in the United States Minor League Cricket teams Cricket clubs established in 2020 2020 establishments in Texas Sports clubs and teams in Austin, Texas