PLAYER COMBINE AND CHAMPIONS OPEN TOURNAMENT TO HIGHLIGHT MLC PREPARATION UNDERWAY IN HOUSTON

Scouts from leading global cricket entities observing more than 50 leading domestic players in high performance camp, combine and tournament play ahead of MLC draft on March 19

Major League Cricket (MLC) announced today details on its Domestic Player Combine and MLC Champions Open tournament at the MLC National Cricket Center at Prairie View Cricket Complex (PVCC) near Houston, TX, taking place through March 16, 2023.

This high-performance preparation will lead into MLC’s Domestic Player Draft, to be held on March 19 at Space Center Houston, the official visitor center of NASA Johnson Space Center, ahead of the inaugural season to take place this summer. Scouts from several leading cricket entities from around the world, including Cricket New South Wales and the Kolkata Knight Riders, have arrived in Houston to observe players ahead of the draft event.

The training camp, combine and series of matches feature four of the leading franchises in the United States who have won titles in America’s leading open T20 competitions over the past two seasons – the Atlanta Fire (LA Open winners, 2021), Samp Army (Unity Cup, 2022), the Kingsmen (Atlanta Open, 2022) and UMMC KR (Houston Open, 2022).

Players participating include USA internationals Ali Khan, Jaskaran Malhotra and Rusty Theron, former New Zealand international Corey Anderson, 2012 U-19 Indian World Cup winners Unmukt Chand, Smit Patel and Harmeet Singh, 2022 Minor League Cricket MVP Phani Simhadri, former South African international Dane Piedt, England international and 2019 World Cup winner Liam Plunkett and Sri Lankan Shehan Jayasuriya. The full team rosters are listed below.

The camp began in Houston with fast bowlers reporting on Saturday, taking part in skills training and strength conditioning prior to the arrival of the full group of players on Wednesday, March 8. Three further days of preparation will then include fitness testing and nets sessions before a series of matches to take place between the four teams from March 12 to March 16. This extensive preparation will give overseas scouts for the six MLC teams a unique opportunity to observe domestic players for selection in the historic competition to take place from July 13-30 this summer.

MLC notes that a number of leading domestic players are unable to participate in the combine due to other obligations but are available for selection in the draft. A further extended pool of players who have performed with distinction in Minor League Cricket over the past two seasons have also been identified for MLC teams and their scouts for consideration in the upcoming draft and serve as reserves for the combine. These players are listed in the table below.

“The coming summer of cricket provides unprecedented opportunities for players in the United States with the launch of Major League Cricket. This high-performance camp and set of competitive matches in Houston provides an outstanding opportunity for more than 50 of the top players in the country to showcase their skills and prepare for the season in front of scouts from the forefront of global T20 cricket,” said Justin Geale, Tournament Director, Major League Cricket.

Matches in the MLC Champions Open, to be played in the T20 format, will be streamed on the MLC Network YouTube channel, with the schedule as follows:

MLC Champions’ Open Team Rosters: