# Golden State Grizzlies

The Golden State Grizzlies are an American professional Twenty20 cricket team based in the Sacramento metropolitan area that competes in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket. The franchise is owned by ACE (American Cricket Enterprises).
The team's home ground is Arroyo Park, located in Davis, California. Sami Aslam currently helms captaincy duties, with Hammad Azam helming vice-captain duties.

## 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$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 Golden State Grizzlies releasing their squad on August 24. Saurabh Netravalkar was later named as captain for the Golden State Grizzlies for the exhibition league.

### 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 Grizzlies announced Sami Aslam as captain with Hammad Azam helming vice-captain duties.
Throughout the group stage, the Grizzlies lost to the Strikers twice, and won twice against the Blazers, the Blasters, the Lashings, the Surf Riders, and the Thunderbolts. The Grizzlies additionally won against the Chicago Blasters and the Americans once. The Grizzlies topped the group, thus qualifying for the play-offs.
In the quarterfinals, the Grizzlies bested the Houston Hurricanes in a best-of-three game series 2-0. The Grizzlies headed to the semi-finals to face eventual winners, the Silicon Valley Strikers. The Grizzlies lost by 33 runs against the Strikers as they placed 3rd in the tournament.

### 2022 season

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

## Current squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold.
| Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Year signed | Notes |
| Batsmen |||||||
| Aditya Srinivas | United States | (1991-08-19) 19 August 1991 (age 33) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | 2021 | |
| Hammad Azam | Pakistan | (1991-03-16) 16 March 1991 (age 33) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2021 | Overseas |
| Zia Shahzad | Pakistan | (1996-06-18) 18 June 1996 (age 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break googly | 2021 | Overseas |
| All-rounders |||||||
| Abbas Jafri | United States | (1992-12-15) 15 December 1992 (age 32) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2021 | |
| Abheyender Singh | United States | (1987-09-21) 21 September 1987 (age 37) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2021 | |
| Asad Khan | Afghanistan | (1997-12-06) 6 December 1997 (age 27) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2021 | Overseas |
| Bhavesh Jain | India | (1982-06-22) 22 June 1982 (age 42) | Left-handed | Left-arm medium | 2021 | Overseas |
| Karan Chandel | United States | (1991-01-27) 27 January 1991 (age 33) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium fast | 2021 | |
| Junaid Malik | Pakistan | (1990-04-25) 25 April 1990 (age 34) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2021 | Overseas |
| Mohit Nataraj | United States | (1985-05-28) 28 May 1985 (age 39) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2021 | |
| Neeraj Goel | United States | (1991-03-17) 17 March 1991 (age 33) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | 2021 | |
| Sami Aslam | Pakistan | (1995-12-12) 12 December 1995 (age 29) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | 2021 | Overseas captain |
| Samson Bhatti | United States | (1990-06-29) 29 June 1990 (age 34) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | 2021 | |
| Sheryar Khan | Pakistan | (1986-04-11) 11 April 1986 (age 38) | Right-handed | Left-arm medium | 2021 | Overseas |
| Shivam Mishra | India | (1992-08-30) 30 August 1992 (age 32) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium fast | 2021 | Overseas |
| Vatsal Vaghela | United States | (2002-03-20) 20 March 2002 (age 22) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2021 | |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||
| Saideep Ganesh | United States | (1997-05-16) 16 May 1997 (age 27) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2021 | |