The status means that MLC will now be recognised as an official T20 league, with tournament playing records now counted as official format statistics. “We are really excited for the news as it’s a recognition of the standard and high quality of players taking part in the tournament,” tournament director Justin Geale told ESPNcricinfo. “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.
“The most important part for me though is it ensures the performances of some of the world’s best players alongside their peers are adequately reflected in their career statistics.
“Really thankful to the ICC for taking the time to look at it as cricket in the USA doesn’t always fit into a template. We are an Associate nation and proud of that, one with a unique opportunity in front of us. It’s our hope that on the back of the upcoming World Cup and a successful season we can continue to build a platform for the sport to grow and ultimately succeed in the USA.”
The 2024 edition of MLC will start on July 5, a week after the T20 World Cup ends on June 29 in Bridgetown. The T20 World Cup begins, however, in Dallas, USA on June 1, in what is an important season in the game’s continuing efforts to crack the US market.
“It was always intended to be a 10-team league,” MLC’s chief executive, Vijay Srinivasan, told the Guardian. “Studies show that we are a big enough country, with a big enough demographic to support 10 teams, so that’s our plan. We had 19 games in our first season, will have 25 in our second. I think we want to get to 34 next year, and just gradually keep expanding.”
Srinivasan said they wanted the league, which clashes with the Hundred in 2024, to start in early June in 2025.
“Ultimately for us, our ideal calendar is to start much earlier, in the late spring or early summer,” Srinivasan said. “With the Indian Premier League ending in late May, I think our sweet spot would be to start in early June, which is when we have the school holidays in the US, and go into July. That’s how we would like to establish our window.”
Four of the six teams in the MLC are owned by IPL team owners – Mumbai Indians, KKR, Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals.
The first season ran from July 13 to 31 with 15 group-stage games followed by four playoff matches, and ended with MI New York lifting the trophy under the captaincy of Nicholas Pooran. The second season will be played across the same two grounds which hosted the first season – the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas and the Church Street Park Stadium in Morrisville.
