
In a major boost to America’s premier T20 tournament, Major League Cricket has officially been given the List A status by the International Cricket Council. Started in June last year MLC has played a vital role in promoting the game of cricket in the United States which is evident by the fact that the tournament was able to grasp the attention of the audience in a country like India which is said to have one of the biggest consumer base of cricket in the world. Despite the odd time at which the matches were being televised and streamed the T20 league was watched by the cricket-loving nation.
What They Said?
In the words of tournament director Justin Geale “By awarding MLC List A status for the upcoming season, it assists to acknowledge the strength and growing stature of the tournament and ultimately will help to enhance the credibility of the sport in the USA on a global scale.”
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The Success
Another reason for the tournament’ssuccess was the involvement of big players gelled with talented local players like USA’s national team captain Monak Patel, and Aaron Jones former Indian all-rounder Harmeet Singh to name some. If we talk about experienced players it includes the likes of Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, and Andre Russell all of whom have made a name for themselves in T20 leagues around the world.
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The Impact
The MLC has made a huge impact on the performance of the national team as well which was on show during USA’s first-ever series win against a Test-playing nation as the Monak Patel-led side beat Bangladesh by the margin of 2-1 in the three-match T20 series. This was USA’s second series win on the trott having defeated Canada 4-0 in the previous series.
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The Start
The second season of the Major League Cricket will begin from July 5 2024 which is a few days after the conclusion of the 2024 T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in the West Indies and USA from June 1 to June 30 a tournament which can be a stepping stone in ICC’s bid to promote cricket in the US as it is one of the biggest market after India as far as the value of the media broadcasting rights are concerned. USA will kick off their T20 World Cup campaign with the opening match of the tournament against Canada on June 1.
The Timing
One of the reasons why the league is starting in early July is to avoid the clash with England’s new competition The Hunfred. If we talk about last year’s scenario in 2023 the league ended just two days prior to the start of the Hundred which resulted in a jam-packed schedule for the players that participated in both leagues as they had to travel from one continent to another in a short span of time.