Cricket All-Stars (also known as Cricket All-Stars Series) was an exhibition

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

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

series took place in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 2015. The series features two lineups of renowned retired cricket players from around the world, led by cricket icons –

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who List of India national cricket captains#Men's cricket, captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketer ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Background

The inaugural series was held across three cities in the

. A second series was announced to be held in September/October 2017 but later it got scrapped due to issues between

; it hasn't returned thereafter.

Teams

The All-Stars Series was a set of games played between Sachin's Blasters led by

and Warne's Warriors led by

. The two captains selected their respective squads by randomly drawing out the player names on 5 November 2015 at

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

Venues

All three matches of the series played in baseball stadiums. Initially in June 2015,

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

in Chicago and

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

in New York were booked as venues, along with

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a ballpark in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a ...

in Los Angeles. However, in October 2015, the former two venues were replaced by

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

' home ballpark

Citi Field Citi Field is a baseball park, baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, in the Boroughs of New York, borough of Queens, New York City, United States. Opened in 2009, Citi Field is the home of Major League Baseball's New York M ...

and

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

' home ballpark

Minute Maid Park Daikin Park (originally Enron Field and formerly Astros Field and Minute Maid Park) is a retractable roof stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. It opened in 2000 and is the home ballpark of the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). ...

. The first match was a day game in New York, while the second and third played under lights in Houston and Los Angeles respectively. A curator from New Zealand was hired to prepare drop-in pitches in Minneapolis to be delivered to the three stadiums.

Series history

Awards

Umpires

Marais Erasmus Marais Erasmus (born 27 February 1964) is a South African former first-class cricketer who is currently serving as an international cricket umpire. He was a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and stands in matches in all three formats ...

from South Africa who is currently a member of the

ICC Elite Umpire Panel The Elite Panel of ICC Umpires is a panel of cricket umpires appointed by the International Cricket Council to officiate in Test matches and One Day Internationals around the world. The panel was first established in April 2002 when the ICC decid ...

and

Simon Taufel Simon James Arthur Taufel (born 21 January 1971) is an Australian former cricket umpire who was earlier a member of the ICC Elite umpire panel. He won five consecutive ICC Umpire of the Year awards between 2004 and 2008, and is widely regard ...

and

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, DJ, electronic musician and author. He dominated professional snooker in the 1980s, when he reached eight ...

from Australia who were former (now retired) members of the

are the three experienced umpires who were selected to perform the duties of the on-field umpires and the third umpire in all the three games on a rotation basis.

Fixtures

1st match

2nd match

3rd match

Trophy

The All-Stars Trophy and team shirts were unveiled by Tendulkar and Warne along with their respective team's player rosters, on 5 November 2015 in

.Tendulkar to play alongside Lara in Cricket All-Stars - ''ESPN Cricinfo news''
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Broadcasting

References

External links

Official website
{{Twenty20 leagues , state=expanded Defunct cricket competitions Domestic cricket competitions in 2015–16