The second edition of the Major League Cricket is set to commence on July 5th with the defending champions MI New York taking on Seattle Orcas at Church Street Park, Morrisville.
Ahead of the tournament, we bring you a detailed preview with all the information you need.
Major League Cricket has already transformed the cricket scene in the USA, with the inaugural 2023 season being a massive success, setting the stage for the T20 World Cup co-hosted by the USA and the Caribbean.
Recently, Major League Cricket received List-A status from the ICC, officially recognizing it as America’s first world-class domestic T20 tournament. This milestone is a significant leap for cricket in the United States.
The league includes six teams: the Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings, and Washington Freedom, featuring top international and domestic cricket talent.
The MLC 2024 will have a total of 25 matches in the competition, and is set to be hosted at two venues: Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie in Texas and Church Street Park in Morrisville in North Carolina from July 5 to 28.
In the group stage, each team will play seven matches, taking on three teams once while facing two teams on two occasions. The top four teams will then advance through to the playoffs, with the top two sides facing off in Qualifier for a spot in the final. The third and fourth-placed will take on each other in Eliminator, with the winner meeting the loser of Qualifier.
History of Major League Cricket tournament
Major League Cricket (MLC), a professional T20 league in the United States, is run by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) and sanctioned by USA Cricket. Featuring six teams from major US cities in a single-entity model, the inaugural season spanned from July 13-30 last year, with matches held in Texas and North Carolina.
MI New York were crowned the champions in the inaugural edition, beating Seattle Orcas by seven wickets. Orcas had topped the group stage with Texas Super Kings, Washington Freedom and MI New York the other three teams to reach the playoffs.
Seattle Orcas advanced through to the final with a nine-wicket hammering of Texas Super Kings while New York defeated Washington in the eliminator by 16 runs. MI New York then moved past Texas by six wickets to book a spot in the final, where Nicholas Pooran single-handedly clinched them the title with an outrageous 137 not-out in 55 deliveries.
Team Preview
Los Angeles Knight Riders, owned by the Knight Riders franchise from IPL, had an awful campaign in the inaugural edition of the MLC. The side, led by Sunil Narine, could manage to win only one match and lost four as they finished at the bottom of the table. For the 2024 edition, they have brought in the Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and South African batter David Miller.
MI New York, who are part of the global network of Mumbai Indians, clinched the title in the maiden season by beating Seattle Orcas. They won only two out of five games in the group stage but then went on to win three back to back games in the playoffs to lift the trophy. MINY have signed South African pacer Anrich Nortje and West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd for this season.
San Francisco Unicorns were the second team to miss out on the playoffs in the first MLC season. They won two out of five games in the group stage but had an interior net run-rate to New York. San Francisco have added Australian superstar Pat Cummins and Jake Fraser-McGurk to their roster.
Bet on MLC 2024 on 22Bet.
Seattle Orcas topped the group stage in the MLC 2023 with four wins in five games and defeated Texas Super Kings in Qualifier to reach the final. They posted 183 in the final on the back of Quinton de Kock’s 52-ball 87 but couldn’t defend the target. Seattle will have two new names this season in Nandre Burger and Obed McCoy.
Texas Super Kings have bolstered their squad for the MLC 2024 with signings of Aiden Markram and Daryl Mitchell. Last season, they won three out of five games in the group phase before losing two playoff games against Seattle and New York.
Washington Freedom have upgraded their arsenal for the 2024 edition with high-profile signings of Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head and Steven Smith. Washington had won three matches in the round-robin last season before losing to New York in the eliminator.
Who will win Major League Cricket 2024?
Looking at the betting markets, the top three favourites to win the Major League Cricket 2024 are MI New York, Washington Freedom and Texas Super Kings. This pretty much aligns with what we think, having taken into account the strengths of respective squads.
The reigning champions have retained their star roster from the previous season, including Nicholas Pooran, Rashid Khan, Kieron Pollard, Trent Boult, Tim David, Dewald Brevis and Kagiso Rabada. With the addition of Anrich Nortje, their side looks even stronger. You can back them to win the MLC 2024 at odds of 4.35 on 22Bet.
Washington Freedom had retained only two overseas players – Akeal Hosein and Marco Jansen, and have signed Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head, Steve Smith and Rachin Ravindra. They also have Saurabh Netravalkar and Andries Gous, who starred for the USA in the T20 World Cup. Bet on Washington Freedom to win at odds of 4.50.
Texas Super Kings retained Faf du Plessis, Devon Conway and Mitchell Santner, and signed Aiden Markram, Daryl Mitchell, Marcus Stoinis, Dwayne Bravo, Naveen-ul-Haq and others ahead of this season. Texas have a pretty good squad and if you wish, you can bet on them at odds of 5.00.
Los Angeles Knight Riders had a terrible season last year but this season could be different considering the form of their star all-rounders Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. They also have Shakib Al Hasan, David Miller, Adam Zampa and Spencer Johnson. LAKR have 5.50 odds of winning the tournament.
The defending champions have a potent bowling attack and pretty good batting resources. We believe MI New York will go on to win the Major League 2024 season.
- Indian Rupee as a currency
- Very Competitive odds
- Website available in Hindi
- Indian Rupee as a currency
- Very Competitive odds
- Website available in Hindi
