Following a successful national player registration process, USA Cricket and American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) today announced the inaugural Player Draft for Minor League Cricket (MiLC) will take place later this month in advance of the league’s scheduled launch in Spring 2021.
Over 2,000 individual cricketers have registered through the official Minor League Cricket Player Registration Portal in the last month. Following the August 12th deadline for registrations, all registered players will be considered for the inaugural Minor League Cricket Player Draft, which will take place on Saturday, August 15th, to select the squads for all 24 MiLC teams.
ACE and USA Cricket are looking to schedule a series of MiLC Franchise Exhibition Matches between September 5th and mid-October in multiple locations in coordination with local public health officials and with comprehensive COVID-19 safety protocols in place to ensure the safety and well-being of players, volunteers, and officials.
The matches will allow Franchises to hone their squads and plans for the first full season of Minor League Cricket now scheduled to launch in Spring 2021. The matches in 2020 will also give all participating players a chance to participate within USA Cricket’s domestic cricket pathway, which for many will be for the first time. Players will be looking to stake their claim for positions in Minor League Cricket Franchises for the 2021 season, and also to capture the attention of the USA Cricket National Team selectors.
USA Cricket plans to utilize the window immediately after completion of the exhibition matches to stage the 2020 Zonal 50-Over trials and National Championships for men, women, and youth if and where it is safe to do so.
Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan of ACE stated, “It is clear that Minor League Cricket has captured the attention of the American cricketing community. The Player Draft on August 15th will be a watershed event in the development of professional cricket in the U.S. and it will be an important step for Minor League Cricket.
“We have also been overwhelmed with the scale of interest in Franchise ownership. We now have a full set of Minor League Cricket franchise owners and look forward to working closely with them to bring the tournament to life.”
“USA Cricket welcomes the news that the Minor League Cricket Player Draft will go ahead next week,” said USA Cricket Chief Executive Iain Higgins. “We have been continuing to work closely with the team at ACE over recent weeks to adapt as best we can to the constantly evolving consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A further announcement with full details of the draft and teams will be made next week.
The Minor League Cricket Player Registration portal is still open www.majorleaguecricket.com/minorleaguecricket.
John Stephenson
john@cricketinvestor.co.uk
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