The 2023 Major League Cricket season (also known as the 2023 MLC) was the inaugural season of the Major League Cricket, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league established in 2019 by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) in the United States. The season was hosted at two venues, Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas and Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina. The season was played from July 13 to 30, 2023, with MI New York defeating the Seattle Orcas by seven wickets to win the inaugural title.
Background
Major League Cricket announced in November 2022 that its inaugural season would be played at Grand Prairie Stadium starting July 13 and concluding July 30. MLC also revealed that the tournament would be played in a single round-robin format with fifteen league matches played among six franchises before a four-match play-off phase.
In March 2023, the teams for the tournament were announced ahead of the league's inaugural draft – called the Texas Super Kings, the Seattle Orcas, the Los Angeles Knight Riders, the Washington Freedom, the MI New York, and the San Francisco Unicorns respectively. The draft for the season was then held on March 19, with Harmeet Singh being picked first overall and Aaron Finch and Quinton de Kock among others highlighting the draft. In the buildup to the season opener, teams signed multiple other players including Jason Roy, Adam Zampa, and Moises Henriques.
In April, USA Cricket – the governing body of cricket in the United States – officially sanctioned the tournament following a dispute with tournament organizers, American Cricket Enterprises, that threatened to delay the launch of MLC. Tournament fixtures were announced on June 12 – nearly two months later. In addition, it also revealed that the tournament would be held at two venues, Grand Prairie Stadium and Church Street Park for the group stage, while all playoff matches and the final would be held at Grand Prairie Stadium. Tickets for the matches were also made available on the same day.
Teams
Teams were announced by MLC in March 2023, with team coaches and captains being announced in the months following.
Squads
A minimum of 16 players and a maximum of 19 players can be selected by the teams with a maximum of nine overseas players. The teams can select nine local players in the draft and another one as a wildcard.
Ambati Rayudu withdrew from Major League Cricket amid a proposal made by the BCCI to enact a year-long "cooling-off" period for recently retired players. Rayudu was replaced by former CSK teammate Imran Tahir. Wanindu Hasaranga withdrew from Major League Cricket due to both not receiving a NOC (no-objection-certificate) from Sri Lanka Cricket and due to Hasaranga wanting to "manage his workloads". He was replaced in the squad by Tanveer Sangha. Mitchell Marsh was pulled out of the tournament by Cricket Australia in order to manage his workload ahead of Australia's build-up for the 2023 Cricket World Cup and due to the tournament clashing with the Ashes series. Sikandar Raza withdrew from Major League Cricket due to it clashing with the 2023 Zim Afro T10.
Venues
Points table
Advanced to the Qualifier
Advanced to the Eliminator
League stage
Play-offs
Final
Statistics
Most runs
Source: ESPNCricinfo
Most wickets
Source: ESPNcricinfo
Awards
On July 28, 2023, a list of end of season awards was announced.
Broadcasting
In July 2023, Major League Cricket (MLC) announced that its inaugural season will be broadcast live in major cricketing nations.