The Minor League Cricket, which is also abbreviated to MiLC – as opposed to MLC which stands for Major League Cricket, is a T20 tournament in the USA that’s used as a feeder system for the Major League Cricket.
It was supposed to be played in 2020 but was postponed to 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, the first ever season of the Minor League Cricket was held.
How did the Minor League Cricket (MiLC) start? Some history
American cricket has had a rich history associated with it but in more recent times there had been some governing issues that had prevented them from kick-starting their own T20 league.
However, in 2018 there had been talks of a new T20 league starting off in the country which was later called the Major League Cricket. The American Cricket Enterprise (ACE) bought the rights to MLC in 2021 and alongside that, a second league, termed as a development league by the name of Minor League Cricket was also going to be launched.
In 2020, the Minor League Cricket made a soft launch before its first ever season was held in 2021. It was played from July to October 2021.
Later there was an announcement made for the MiLC Youth competition which would allow younger players to ply their trade in a bid to make it to the Minor League Cricket. This was first played in 2022.
Which teams play in the Minor League Cricket?
A total of 27 teams have featured in the MiLC in the first three editions of the tournament so far. These have been divided into two Conferences which are further divided into two Divisions each.
The Atlantic Conference has the Northern and Southern Divisions while the Pacific Conference has the Eastern and Western Divisions.
Here are the teams associated with each of them:
Atlantic Conference, Northern Division Teams
- Empire State Titans
- Manhattan Yorkers
- New England Eagles
- New Jersey Somerset Cavaliers
- New Jersey Stallions
- The Philadelphians
Atlantic Conference, Southern Division Teams
- Atlanta Fire
- Atlanta Lightning
- Baltimore Royals
- Ft. Lauderdale Lions
- Morrisville Raptors
- Orlando Galaxy
Pacific Conference, Eastern Division Teams
- Chicago Kingsmen
- Chicago Tigers
- Dallas Mustangs
- Dallas Xforia Giants
- Houston Hurricanes
- Lone Star Athletics
- Michigan Cricket Stars
- St. Louis Americans
Pacific Conference, Western Division Teams
- East Bay Blazers
- Golden State Grizzlies
- San Diego Surf Riders
- Seattle Thunderbolts
- Silicon Valley Strikers
- SoCal Lashings
What is the Minor League Cricket format?
Teams in each of the four divisions would play 14 to 16 matches during the league stage of the season. The top two teams from each of the division would then advance to the quarterfinals where they would face teams from the other division in the same conference.
These quarterfinals are played in a best-of-three format, with the winners facing off in the intra-conference semifinal.
The winner of each of those semifinals then feature in the final which has one team from each of the two conferences.
Minor League Cricket 2021 season
27 teams featured in the first ever edition of the Minor League Cricket which was held in 2021. 27 venues were used for this season which was played between July 31 and October 3, 2021.
Unmukt Chand‘s 612 runs in the season helped his Silicon Valley Strikers clinch the title after they defeated the New Jersey Stallions in the title-decider. Damion Jacobs grabbed 32 wickets in the tournament to help Empire State Titans make the last four stage.
Hammad Azam, who represented the semifinalists Golden State Grizzlies, won the MVP award for this opening season.
Minor League Cricket 2022 season
This time around there were 26 teams which participated in the 2022 season of the Minor League Cricket and 20 venues were used for the matches. The tournament was played between June 25 and August 28, 2022.
Seattle Thunderbolts won the 2022 edition of the MiLC by defeating Atlanta Fire in the final with Phani Simhadri grabbing 43 wickets in the entire season for his side.
He would go on to win the Player of the Series award even as Unmukt Chand ended the season with 693 runs for Silicon Valley Strikers again.
Minor League Cricket 2023 season
26 teams featured in the third edition of the MiLC with the season played over 19 venues across the country.
Dallas Mustangs won the title by overcoming New Jersey Somerset Cavaliers in the final of the tournament thanks to the competition top-scorer and player of the series, Andries Gous, who finished on 516 runs.
Muditha Fernando of San Diego Surf Riders ended the season with 25 wickets, the most for any player.
Photo Credit: Photo by Diana Parkhouse
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