The 2024 Major League Cricket (also known as MLC 2024, or for sponsorship reasons as 2024 Cognizant Major League Cricket) was the second 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, as was the case the previous season, at two venues: Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas and Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina. The season was played from July 5 to 28, 2024, with the Washington Freedom defeating the San Francisco Unicorns by 96 runs to win the tournament.
MI New York were the defending champions.
Background In December 2023, it was announced that the second season of the tournament would begin on July 5, 2024, four days after the conclusion of the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. This was later moved back a day to July 5. It was also reported that matches would be played at Grand Prairie Stadium, alongside other venues. By March 2024, MLC had announced that they had signed Cognizant to serve as the season's title sponsor.
On February 15, 2024, the overseas players' retention lists were announced, with the number of overseas slots having been upped to nine. In the following months, teams would go on to select further overseas players, including Australian cricketers Steven Smith and Travis Head. The domestic players' draft was virtually held on March 21, 2024, with a total of 20 players being picked by teams over 10 rounds. An additional draft was scheduled for June 16 for teams to complete their squads.
The season schedule was released by MLC on May 7, with defending champions MI New York facing the Seattle Orcas in the season opener, and the final set for July 28 at Grand Prairie Stadium. Later that month, MLC announced that they had obtained official List A status for all tournament fixtures, becoming the second Associate-run league to have it alongside the ILT20.
Teams All the six teams from the previous season took part this season. +Teams in the 2024 Major League CricketFranchiseCaptainLos Angeles Knight RidersSunil NarinePhil SimmonsMI New YorkKieron PollardRobin PetersonSan Francisco UnicornsCorey AndersonShane WatsonSeattle OrcasWayne ParnellPravin AmreTexas Super KingsFaf du PlessisStephen FlemingWashington FreedomSteve SmithRicky Ponting
Squads
A minimum of 16 and a maximum of 19 players can be selected by teams with a cap of nine overseas players. The teams also can retain any domestic players during the retention window, which was open until February 29, 2024. Teams were allowed to select any remaining domestic players during MLC's domestic draft, which was held on March 21, 2024, and a supplementary draft, which was held on June 16.
Los Angeles Knight RidersMI New YorkSan Francisco UnicornsSeattle OrcasTexas Super KingsWashington Freedom Sunil Narine (c) Saif Badar Unmukt Chand Derone Davis Corné Dry Adithya Ganesh Spencer Johnson Ali Khan Nitish Kumar Jason Roy Andre Russell Matthew Tromp Shadley van Schalkwyk Adam Zampa Shakib Al Hasan David Miller Joshua Little Waqar Salamkheil Alex Carey Chaitanya Bishnoi Kieron Pollard (c) Ehsan Adil Trent Boult Dewald Brevis Ruben Clinton Tim David Shayan Jahangir Nosthush Kenjige Rashid Khan Anrich Nortje Monank Patel Nicholas Pooran Kagiso Rabada Heath Richards Romario Shepherd Steven Taylor Rushil Ugarkar Sunny Patel Corey Anderson (c) Pat Cummins Finn Allen Brody Couch Karima Gore Jahmar Hamilton Hassan Khan Sanjay Krishnamurthi Carmi le Roux Liam Plunkett Haris Rauf Matthew Short Tajinder Singh Josh Inglis Matt Henry Jake Fraser-McGurk Sherfane Rutherford Abrar Ahmed Wayne Parnell (c) Nauman Anwar Hammad Azam Michael Bracewell Nandre Burger Quinton de Kock Ayan Desai Cameron Gannon Shehan Jayasuriya Heinrich Klaasen Shubham Ranjane Ali Sheikh Harmeet Singh Nathan Ellis Imad Wasim Ryan Rickelton Lance Morris Obed McCoy Aaron Jones Zaman Khan Faf du Plessis (c) Dwayne Bravo Devon Conway Aaron Hardie Milind Kumar Aiden Markram Daryl Mitchell Noor Ahmad Saiteja Mukkamalla Mohammad Mohsin Raj Nannan Mitchell Santner Calvin Savage Zia Shahzad Cameron Stevenson Joshua Tromp Zia-ul-Haq Naveen ul-Haq Marcus Stoinis Gerald Coetzee Ottniel Baartman Steve Smith (c) Travis Head Glenn Maxwell Andries Gous Lockie Ferguson Andrew Tye Jack Edwards Saurabh Netravalkar Obus Pienaar Rachin Ravindra Mukhtar Ahmed Amila Aponso Akhilesh Bodugum Justin Dill Ian Holland Akeal Hosein Marco Jansen Lahiru Milantha Yasir Mohammad
Venues Matches were held at two venues, Grand Prairie Stadium with a capacity of 7,200 located in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Church Street Park with a capacity of 3,500, located in Morrisville, North Carolina.
Points table
League stage
Play-offs
Eliminator
Qualifier
Challenger
Final
Statistics Most runs RunsPlayerTeam420Faf du PlessisTexas Super Kings8100171.4252.50336Steve SmithWashington Freedom988148.6756.00Travis Head977*173.1948.00306Finn AllenSan Francisco Unicorns9101187.7334.00293Devon ConwayTexas Super Kings862*143.6258.60 Source: ESPNCricinfo
Most wickets PlayerTeam15Saurabh NetravalkarWashington Freedom726.24/357.6712Rachin RavindraWashington Freedom615.14/114.8111Cameron GannonSeattle Orcas723.03/269.21Marco JansenWashington Freedom831.03/288.6110Hassan KhanSan Francisco Unicorns722.03/57.09Rashid KhanMI New York7263/226.15Glenn MaxwellWashington Freedom825.33/156.66Lockie Ferguson725.24/267.26 Source: ESPNCricinfo
Awards On July 29, 2024, a list of end of season awards was announced.
+Awards in the 2024 Major League CricketNameTeamAwardTravis HeadWashington FreedomMost Valuable PlayerFaf du PlessisTexas Super KingsLeading run scorerSaurabh NetravalkarWashington FreedomLeading wicket takerHassan KhanSan Francisco UnicornsDomestic Player of the Series
Notes
See also
2024 Minor League Cricket season
References
External links Series home at ESPNcricinfo