# 2023 Major League Cricket season

The 2023 Major League Cricket (also known as MLC 2023) was the inaugural season of Major League Cricket, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league established in 2019 by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) in the United States. The season was hosted at two venues, Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas and Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina. The season was played from 13 to 30 July 2023, with MI New York defeating the Seattle Orcas by seven wickets to win the inaugural title.
The tournament surpassed expectations financially, generating a reported $8 million in revenue. The tournament also garnered positive and optimistic outlooks on the future of cricket in the United States.

## Background

Major League Cricket announced in November 2022 that its inaugural season would be played at Grand Prairie Stadium starting July 13 and concluding July 30. MLC also revealed that the tournament would be played in a single round-robin format with fifteen league matches played among six franchises before a four-match play-off phase.
In March 2023, the teams for the tournament were announced ahead of the league's inaugural draft—called the Texas Super Kings, the Seattle Orcas, the Los Angeles Knight Riders, the Washington Freedom, the MI New York and the San Francisco Unicorns, respectively. The draft for the season was then held on March 19, with Harmeet Singh being picked first overall and Aaron Finch and Quinton de Kock among others highlighting the draft. In the buildup to the season opener, teams signed multiple other players including Jason Roy, Adam Zampa and Moises Henriques.
In April, USA Cricket—the governing body of cricket in the United States—officially sanctioned the tournament following a dispute with tournament organizers, American Cricket Enterprises, that threatened to delay the launch of MLC. Tournament fixtures were announced on June 12—nearly two months later. In addition, it also revealed that the tournament would be held at two venues, Grand Prairie Stadium and Church Street Park for the group stage, while all play-off matches and the final would be held at Grand Prairie Stadium. Tickets for the matches were also made available on the same day.

## Teams

Teams were announced by MLC in March 2023, with team coaches and captains being announced in the months following.
Teams in the 2023 Major League Cricket :
| Franchise | Head coach | Captain |
| Los Angeles Knight Riders | Phil Simmons | Sunil Narine |
| MI New York | Robin Peterson | Kieron Pollard |
| San Francisco Unicorns | Shane Watson | Aaron Finch |
| Seattle Orcas | Pravin Amre | Wayne Parnell |
| Texas Super Kings | Stephen Fleming | Faf du Plessis |
| Washington Freedom | Greg Shipperd | Moises Henriques |

## Squads

A minimum of 16 players and a maximum of 19 players could be selected by the teams with a maximum of nine overseas players. The teams could select nine local players in the draft and another one as a wildcard. All teams released their squads ahead of the start of the season.
| Los Angeles Knight Riders | MI New York | San Francisco Unicorns | Seattle Orcas | Texas Super Kings | Washington Freedom |
| Sunil Narine (c) Ali Khan Unmukt Chand Jaskaran Malhotra (wk) Nitish Kumar Corne Dry Ali Sheikh Saif Badar Shadley van Schalkwyk Bhaskar Yadram Andre Russell Jason Roy Lockie Ferguson Martin Guptill Adam Zampa Rilee Rossouw Spencer Johnson Gajanand Singh | Kieron Pollard (c) Steven Taylor Hammad Azam Ehsan Adil Nosthush Kenjige Monank Patel (wk) Sarabjit Ladda Shayan Jahangir (wk) Kyle Phillip Saideep Ganesh Trent Boult Rashid Khan Tim David Dewald Brevis David Wiese Kagiso Rabada Nicholas Pooran Jason Behrendorff Jasdeep Singh Tristan Stubbs | Aaron Finch (c) Corey Anderson Liam Plunkett Tajinder Singh Chaitanya Bishnoi Carmi Le Roux Brody Couch David White Smit Patel (wk) Sanjay Krishnamurthi Marcus Stoinis Lungi Ngidi Matthew Wade (wk) Qais Ahmad Finn Allen Mackenzie Harvey Haris Rauf Shadab Khan Amila Aponso | Wayne Parnell (c) Harmeet Singh Shehan Jayasuriya Shubham Ranjane Cameron Gannon Aaron Jones Nauman Anwar Phani Simhadri Angelo Perera Matthew Tromp Mitchell Marsh Quinton de Kock (wk) Dasun Shanaka Sikandar Raza Andrew Tye Heinrich Klaasen Izharulhaq Naveed Dwaine Pretorius Nisarg Patel Shimron Hetmyer Imad Wasim Hayden Walsh Jr | Faf du Plessis (c) Rusty Theron Calvin Savage Lahiru Milantha Milind Kumar Sami Aslam Cameron Stevenson Cody Chetty Zia Shahzad Saiteja Mukkamalla Devon Conway Mitchell Santner Daniel Sams David Miller Gerald Coetzee Dwayne Bravo Ambati Rayudu Mohammad Mohsin Imran Tahir | Moises Henriques (c) Andries Gous Mukhtar Ahmed Obus Pienaar Saurabh Netravalkar Saad Ali Dane Piedt Sujith Gowda Justin Dill Akhilesh Bodugum Wanindu Hasaranga Anrich Nortje Marco Jansen Glenn Phillips Adam Milne Josh Philippe Ben Dwarshuis Akeal Hosein Usman Rafiq Tanveer Sangha Matthew Short |
* Ambati Rayudu withdrew from Major League Cricket amid a proposal made by the BCCI to enact a year-long "cooling-off" period for recently retired players. Rayudu was replaced by former CSK teammate Imran Tahir.
* Wanindu Hasaranga withdrew from Major League Cricket due to both not receiving a NOC (no-objection-certificate) from Sri Lanka Cricket and due to Hasaranga wanting to "manage his workloads". He was replaced in the squad by Tanveer Sangha.
* Mitchell Marsh was pulled out of the tournament by Cricket Australia in order to manage his workload ahead of Australia's build-up for the 2023 Cricket World Cup and due to the tournament clashing with the Ashes series.
* Sikandar Raza withdrew from Major League Cricket due to it clashing with the 2023 Zim Afro T10.

## Venues

Matches were held at two venues: Grand Prairie's Grand Prairie Stadium, with a capacity of 7,000 (expandable to 15,000) and Morrisville, North Carolina's Church Street Park, with a capacity of 3,500.

## Points table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR | Qualification |
| 1 | Seattle Orcas | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0.725 | Advanced to Qualifier |
| 2 | Texas Super Kings | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0.570 | Advanced to Qualifier |
| 3 | Washington Freedom | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0.097 | Advanced to Eliminator |
| 4 | MI New York (C) | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1.004 | Advanced to Eliminator |
| 5 | San Francisco Unicorns | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | −0.303 | |
| 6 | Los Angeles Knight Riders | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | −2.028 | |

## League stage

* Match 1 July 13, 2023 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Texas Super Kings 181/6 (20 overs) | v | Los Angeles Knight Riders 112 (14 overs) |
| David Miller 61 (42) Lockie Ferguson 2/23 (4 overs) | | Andre Russell 55 (34) Mohammad Mohsin 4/8 (3 overs) |
* Texas Super Kings won by 69 runs Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Jermaine Lindo (USA) and Paul Wilson (Aus) Player of the match: David Miller (Texas Super Kings)
* Los Angeles Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 2 July 14, 2023 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| San Francisco Unicorns 215/5 (20 overs) | v | MI New York 193/5 (20 overs) |
| Corey Anderson 91 (52) Kagiso Rabada 2/32 (4 overs) | | Tim David 53* (28) Liam Plunkett 2/30 (4 overs) |
* San Francisco Unicorns won by 22 runs Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Vijaya Mallela (USA) Player of the match: Corey Anderson (San Francisco Unicorns)
* San Francisco Unicorns won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 3 July 14, 2023 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Washington Freedom 144/7 (20 overs) | v | Seattle Orcas 148/5 (19.4 overs) |
| Akeal Hosein 33* (22) Harmeet Singh 2/24 (4 overs) | | Nauman Anwar 48 (37) Moises Henriques 1/8 (2 overs) |
* Seattle Orcas won by 5 wickets Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Rushane Samuels (WI) Player of the match: Imad Wasim (Seattle Orcas)
* Seattle Orcas won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 4 July 15, 2023 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Seattle Orcas 177/4 (20 overs) | v | San Francisco Unicorns 142 (17.5 overs) |
| Heinrich Klaasen 53 (31) Liam Plunkett 2/36 (4 overs) | | Shadab Khan 36 (23) Cameron Gannon 4/23 (3.5 overs) |
* Seattle Orcas won by 35 runs Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Billy Taylor (Eng) Player of the match: Heinrich Klaasen (Seattle Orcas)
* Seattle Orcas won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 5 July 16, 2023 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| Washington Freedom 163/5 (20 overs) | v | Texas Super Kings 157/7 (20 overs) |
| Matthew Short 80 (50) Gerald Coetzee 2/26 (4 overs) | | Dwayne Bravo 76* (39) Akeal Hosein 2/25 (4 overs) |
* Washington Freedom won by 6 runs Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Jermaine Lindo (USA) and Paul Wilson (Aus) Player of the match: Matthew Short (Washington Freedom)
* Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 6 July 16, 2023 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| MI New York 155/8 (20 overs) | v | Los Angeles Knight Riders 50 (13.5 overs) |
| Tim David 48* (21) Corné Dry 2/10 (4 overs) | | Unmukt Chand 26 (26) Nosthush Kenjige 2/7 (3 overs) |
* MI New York won by 105 runs Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Billy Taylor (Eng) Player of the match: Tim David (MI New York)
* MI New York won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 7 July 17, 2023 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Texas Super Kings 154/7 (20 overs) | v | MI New York 137/8 (20 overs) |
| Devon Conway 74 (55) Trent Boult 2/29 (4 overs) | | Shayan Jahangir 41 (38) Daniel Sams 2/15 (4 overs) |
* Texas Super Kings won by 17 runs Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Jermaine Lindo (USA) Player of the match: Devon Conway (Texas Super Kings)
* Texas Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 8 July 18, 2023 19:30 (N) Socrecard
| San Francisco Unicorns 212/7 (20 overs) | v | Los Angeles Knight Riders 191/5 (20 overs) |
| Matthew Wade 78 (41) Adam Zampa 3/41 (4 overs) | | Jason Roy 45 (21) Shadab Khan 2/26 (4 overs) |
* San Francisco Unicorns won by 21 runs Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Rushane Samuels (WI) Player of the match: Matthew Wade (San Francisco Unicorns)
* San Francisco Unicorns won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 9 July 20, 2023 17:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| Los Angeles Knight Riders 175/7 (20 overs) | v | Washington Freedom 177/4 (18.1 overs) |
| Andre Russell 70* (37) Moises Henriques 3/26 (3 overs) | | Matthew Short 43 (35) Sunil Narine 1/20 (4 overs) |
* Washington Freedom won by 6 wickets Church Street Park, Morrisville Umpires: Billy Taylor (Eng) and Paul Wilson (Aus) Player of the match: Andre Russell (Los Angeles Knight Riders)
* Washington Freedom won the toss elected to field.
* Los Angeles Knight Riders were eliminated as a result of this match.
* Match 10 July 21, 2023 17:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| Texas Super Kings 127 (20 overs) | v | Seattle Orcas 128/2 (16 overs) |
| Dwayne Bravo 39 (39) Wayne Parnell 5/20 (4 overs) | | Quinton de Kock 53 (36) Mitchell Santner 1/15 (3 overs) |
* Seattle Orcas won by 8 wickets Church Street Park, Morrisville Umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Vijaya Mallela (USA) Player of the match: Wayne Parnell (Seattle Orcas)
* Seattle Orcas won the toss and elected to field.
* Seattle Orcas qualified for the play-offs as a result of this match.
* Match 11 July 22, 2023 17:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| Washington Freedom 133/8 (20 overs) | v | San Francisco Unicorns 103 (19.5 overs) |
| Moises Henriques 30 (27) Haris Rauf 3/20 (4 overs) | | Corey Anderson 34 (34) Saurabh Netravalkar 6/9 (3.5 overs) |
* Washington Freedom won by 30 runs Church Street Park, Morrisville Umpires: Rushane Samuels (WI) and Paul Wilson (Aus) Player of the match: Saurabh Netravalkar (Washington Freedom)
* San Francisco Unicorns won the toss and elected to field.
* Washington Freedom qualified for the play-offs as a result of this match.
* Match 12 July 23, 2023 13:30 Scorecard
| Seattle Orcas 170/6 (20 overs) | v | Los Angeles Knight Riders 175/8 (19.1 overs) |
| Shehan Jayasuriya 60* (45) Adam Zampa 2/26 (4 overs) | | Rilee Rossouw 78* (38) Cameron Gannon 3/13 (4 overs) |
* Los Angeles Knight Riders won by 2 wickets Church Street Park, Morrisville Umpires: Reon King (WI) and Billy Taylor (Eng) Player of the match: Rilee Rossouw (Los Angeles Knight Riders)
* Los Angeles Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 13 July 23, 2023 17:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| Washington Freedom 160/6 (20 overs) | v | MI New York 161/2 (15.3 overs) |
| Glenn Phillips 47 (35) Kieron Pollard 2/33 (4 overs) | | Nicholas Pooran 62* (33) Akeal Hosein 1/9 (2 overs) |
* MI New York won by 8 wickets Church Street Park, Morrisville Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Paul Wilson (Aus) Player of the match: Nicholas Pooran (MI New York)
* MI New York won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 14 July 24, 2023 17:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| San Francisco Unicorns 171/8 (20 overs) | v | Texas Super Kings 172/7 (19.1 overs) |
| Matthew Wade 49 (30) Gerald Coetzee 4/31 (4 overs) | | Milind Kumar 52 (42) Haris Rauf 2/32 (4 overs) |
* Texas Super Kings won by 3 wickets Church Street Park, Morrisville Umpires: Jermaine Lindo (USA) and Rushane Samuels (WI) Player of the match: Daniel Sams (Texas Super Kings)
* San Francisco Unicorns won the toss and elected to bat.
* Texas Super Kings qualified for the play-offs as a result of this match.
* Match 15 July 25, 2023 17:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| MI New York 194/8 (20 overs) | v | Seattle Orcas 195/8 (19.2 overs) |
| Nicholas Pooran 68 (34) Harmeet Singh 2/21 (3 overs) | | Heinrich Klassen 110* (44) Trent Boult 4/31 (4 overs) |
* Seattle Orcas won by 2 wickets Church Street Park, Morrisville Umpires: Vijaya Mallela (USA), Wayne Knights (NZ) Player of the match: Heinrich Klassen (Seattle Orcas)
* Seattle Orcas won the toss and elected to field.
* MI New York qualified for the play-offs and San Francisco Unicorns were eliminated as a result of this match.

## Play-offs

| Qualifier / Eliminator | Qualifier / Eliminator | Qualifier / Eliminator | Challenger | Challenger | Challenger | Final | Final | Final |
| July 27, 2023 – Texas 19:30 CDT | July 27, 2023 – Texas 19:30 CDT | July 27, 2023 – Texas 19:30 CDT | | | | July 30, 2023 – Texas, 19:30 CDT | July 30, 2023 – Texas, 19:30 CDT | July 30, 2023 – Texas, 19:30 CDT |
| 1 | Seattle Orcas | 127/1 (15 overs) | | | | QW | Seattle Orcas | 183/9 (20 overs) |
| 2 | Texas Super Kings | 126/9 (20 overs) | July 28, 2023 – Texas, 19:30 CDT | July 28, 2023 – Texas, 19:30 CDT | July 28, 2023 – Texas, 19:30 CDT | CW | MI New York | 184/3 (16 overs) |
| | | | QL | Texas Super Kings | 158 (20 overs) | | | |
| July 27, 2023 – Texas, 15:30 CDT | July 27, 2023 – Texas, 15:30 CDT | July 27, 2023 – Texas, 15:30 CDT | EW | MI New York | 162/4 (19 overs) | | | |
| 3 | Washington Freedom | 125/9 (20 overs) | | | | | | |
| 4 | MI New York | 141/7 (20 overs) | | | | | | |
* Eliminator July 27, 2023 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| MI New York 141/7 (20 overs) | v | Washington Freedom 125/9 (20 overs) |
| Dewald Brevis 57 (41) Saurabh Netravalkar 2/25 (4 overs) | | Marco Jansen 28 (18) Trent Boult 4/20 (4 overs) |
* MI New York won by 16 runs Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Rushane Samuels (WI) Player of the match: Dewald Brevis (MI New York)
* Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to field.
* Qualifier July 27, 2023 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Texas Super Kings 126/9 (20 overs) | v | Seattle Orcas 127/1 (15 overs) |
| Daniel Sams 26* (25) Andrew Tye 3/32 (4 overs) | | Quinton de Kock 88* (50) Rusty Theron 1/20 (3 overs) |
* Seattle Orcas won by 9 wickets Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Vijay Mallela (USA) and Billy Taylor (Eng) Player of the match: Quinton de Kock (Seattle Orcas)
* Texas Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat.
* Challenger July 28, 2023 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Texas Super Kings 158 (20 overs) | v | MI New York 162/4 (19 overs) |
| Devon Conway 38 (35) Trent Boult 4/24 (4 overs) | | Dewald Brevis 41* (33) Rusty Theron 1/12 (2 overs) |
* MI New York won by 6 wickets Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Jermaine Lindo (USA) and Paul Wilson (Aus) Player of the match: Trent Boult (MI New York)
* MI New York won the toss and elected to field.

### Final

* July 30, 2023 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Seattle Orcas 183/9 (20 overs) | v | MI New York 184/3 (16 overs) |
| Quinton de Kock 87 (52) Rashid Khan 3/9 (4 overs) | | Nicholas Pooran 137* (55) Imad Wasim 1/14 (2 overs) |
* MI New York won by 7 wickets Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Paul Wilson (Aus) Player of the match: Nicholas Pooran (MI New York)
* MI New York won the toss and elected to field.
* The MI New York won the inaugural Major League Cricket tournament as a result of this match.

## Statistics
### Most runs

Most runs in the 2023 Major League Cricket :
| Player | Team | Innings | Runs | High score |
| Nicholas Pooran | MI New York | 8 | 388 | 137* |
| Quinton de Kock | Seattle Orcas | 7 | 264 | 88* |
| Heinrich Klaasen | Seattle Orcas | 6 | 235 | 110* |
| Devon Conway | Texas Super Kings | 7 | 221 | 74 |
| Tim David | MI New York | 7 | 209 | 53* |

### Most wickets

Most wickets in the 2023 Major League Cricket :
| Player | Team | Matches | Wickets | Best bowling |
| Trent Boult | MI New York | 8 | 22 | 4/20 |
| Cameron Gannon | Seattle Orcas | 7 | 11 | 4/23 |
| Andrew Tye | Seattle Orcas | 7 | 11 | 3/32 |
| Imad Wasim | Seattle Orcas | 7 | 10 | 2/23 |
| Saurabh Netravalkar | Washington Freedom | 6 | 10 | 6/9 |

## Awards

On July 28, 2023, a list of end of season awards was announced.
Awards in the 2023 Major League Cricket :
| Name | Team | Award |
| Nicholas Pooran | MI New York | Most Valuable Player |
| Nicholas Pooran | MI New York | Leading run scorer |
| Trent Boult | MI New York | Leading wicket taker |
| Cameron Gannon | Seattle Orcas | Domestic Player of the Series |

## Broadcasting

In July 2023, Major League Cricket (MLC) announced that its inaugural season will be broadcast live in major cricketing nations.
Broadcast rights for the 2023 Major League Cricket :
| Country | Television channel | Internet streaming applications |
| India | Sports18 | JioCinema |
| United States & Canada | Willow TV Sling TV (Select matches) CBS Sports (Select matches) | |
| Australia | Fox Cricket | |
| Pakistan | A Sports | |