In 2019, USA Cricket sanctioned a league whose operations were controlled by Major League Cricket. This was called the Major League Cricket. However, it took four years for the governing bodies to finally institute the tournament. In 2024, the tournament was officially given a List A status, making it a recognized T20 league.
The Major League Cricket tournament features six teams that represent a city of the USA – Seattle, Washington DC, Dallas, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Three of these teams were owned by franchise from the Indian Premier League – Mumbai Indians (New York), Knight Riders (Los Angeles) and Super Kings (Texas). Each team comprises of players from different nationalities who are chosen based on a draft system.
The tournament is played in two stages – a round-robin league stage and a play-off stage. In the league stage, teams earn two points for a win, one point each for a match that is drawn or has no result, and zero points for a loss. The top four teams progress to the playoffs after the league stage.
In the playoffs, teams positioned first and second contest the first qualifier. Teams positioned third and fourth play an eliminator. The winner of the eliminator plays the loser of the first qualifier. This match’s winner joins the winner of the first qualifier in the final.
As of April 2025, MI New York and Washington Freedom have won one title each. Nicholas Pooran is the leading run-scorer with 568 runs, whereas Trent Boult’s tally of 31 wickets makes him the highest wicket-taker.
