Major League Cricket: Dates, teams, venues, history & more

Major League Cricket, which is the first professional Twenty20 cricket league in the United States, returns for a second season as the sport's popularity continues to grow in America.

The competition has attracted an abundance of world-class talent, with the likes of Pat Cummins, Rashid Khan and Glenn Maxwell all set to line up in 2024.

Major League Cricket dates

Major League Cricket commences on Friday 5th July 2024 and concludes with the final on Monday 29th July.

Major League Cricket times

The majority of matches are scheduled to start at 15:30 and 19:30 EDT, which is 20:30 and 01:30 UK time.

Twenty20 games tend to last between three and four hours.

Major League Cricket teams

Major League Cricket consists of six teams, though directors are planning to expand the competition to 10 after it acquired List A status from the ICC.

The current teams are:

• Los Angeles Knight Riders
• MI New York
• San Francisco Unicorns
• Seattle Orcas
• Texas Super Kings
• Washington Freedom

Major League Cricket how to watch

TNT Sports have the broadcast rights for Major League Cricket in the UK and every match will be screened live.

Major League Cricket history

Major League Cricket was launched in 2023 after USA Cricket - the governing board for United States cricket since 2019 - wanted to establish a domestic T20 league in the country.

Various attempts to launch a league in the US had previously been unsuccessful, but with a $1billion investment from American Cricket Enterprises, they drew the interest of IPL franchises.

The first player draft was held in March 2023 and the league was officially sanctioned by the ICC in April, before play commenced in July.

Played across 15 matches, MI New York were triumphant in the inaugural Major League Cricket season, with captain Nicholas Pooran firing 137 off 55 balls to conquer the Seattle Orcas in the final.

The debut campaign of the ground-breaking league surpassed expectations and with the USA's progression to the Super 8 stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup, organisers are confident of sustaining the competitions growth.

Major League Cricket has acquired List A status from the ICC, meaning it is now recognised as an official T20 league.

Major League Cricket format

Major League Cricket consists of the same format as every other T20 tournament, where each team will have an innings of 20 overs.

The competition commences with a league stage, followed by a play-off phase. The top two teams meet in a 'Qualifier', where the winner advances straight to the final.

Third and fourth place will face off in an 'Eliminator', where the winner will meet the loser of the 'Qualifier'. The team to prevail in that contest will then reach the final.

Major League Cricket star players

Australia's Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins is the latest star to move across the pond after committing to a four-year contract with the San Francisco Unicorns ahead of the 2024 season.

Jason Roy featured in the inaugural Major League Cricket campaign and he will represent the Los Angeles Knight Riders. Roy, who opted out of his ECB contract to play in the league, will be captained by former Oval Invincibles teammate Sunil Narine and accompanied by current Surrey colleague Spencer Johnson.

MI New York's roster is headlined by two elite T20 bowlers in Rashid Khan and Trent Boult. Their batting department is also stacked, featuring several big-hitters in Tim David, Kieron Pollard and Nicholas Pooran.

South African duo Quinton de Kock and Heinrich Klaasen are joined by the USA's World Cup star Aaron Jones at the Seattle Orcas, while there is more South African representation at the Texas Super Kings with Faf du Plessis and Aiden Markram in their line-up. New Zealand internationals Devon Conway, Daryll Mitchell and Mitchell Santner also form the Super Kings squad.

Washington Freedom flaunt a wealth of Australian talent, with Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith and Travis Head all at their disposal.

Major League Cricket squads

Los Angeles Knight Riders

Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Jason Roy, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson, Ali Khan, Unmukt Chand, Nitish Kumar, Corne Dry, Saif Badar, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Derone Davis, Adithya Ganesh, Matthew Tromp

MI New York

Kieron Pollard, Trent Boult, Rashid Khan, Tim David, Dewald Brevis, Kagiso Rabada, Nicholas Pooran, Steven Taylor, Ehsan Adil, Nosthush Kenjige, Monank Patel, Shayan Jahangir, Ruben Clinton, Shayan Jahangir, Heath Richards, Romario Shepherd, Rushil Ugarkar

San Francisco Unicorns

Corey Anderson, Liam Plunkett, Tajinder Singh, Carmi Le Roux, Brody Couch, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Finn Allan, Haris Rauf, Karima Gore, Matthew Short, Jahmar Hamilton, Hassan Khan

Seattle Orcas

Quinton de Kock, Wayne Parnell, Harmeet Singh, Shubham Ranjane, Cameron Gannon, Nauman Anwar, Heinrich Klaasen, Imad Wasim, Hammad Azam, Michael Bracewell, Ayan Desai, Shehan Jayasuriya, Ali Sheikh

Texas Super Kings

Devon Conway, Mitchell Santner, Calvin Savage, Milind Kumar, Cameron Stevenson, Mohammad Mohsin, Faf du Plessis, Daryl Mitchell, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Raj Nannan, Zia Shahzad, Joshua Tromp, Zia ul-Haq

Washington Freedom

Marco Jansen, Andries Gous, Mukhtar Ahmed, Obus Pienaar, Saurabh Netravalkar, Justin Dill, Akhilesh Bodugum, Akeal Hosin, Amila Aphonso, Ian Holland, Lahiru Milantha, Yasir Mohammad, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head

Major League Cricket odds

You can view the full odds for the 2024 Major League Cricket season here.