The U.S. Exit T20 Cricket World Cup, But There’s A Major League Sequel

The United States cricket team officially bowed out of the T20 World Cup on Sunday. England, the country that created the game and introduced it to the Americans, beat them by ten wickets in under ten overs. It was about the most crushing defeat imaginable in the T20 format for the co-hosts. In some ways, it was a shame to end on a flat note when the color had gone out of the Stars and Stripes. “It’s not how you start that’s important, but how you finish,” claimed the late Jim George. The American author was half-right.

The U.S. did about as much as they could possibly do on the field in what was their first proper crack at elite opposition. Monank Patel’s team came into the tournament at almost the bottom rung of the 20 nations taking part. When they beat sixth-ranked Pakistan, a cricketing juggernaut, it was a seismic shock that juddered but didn’t create cricket euphoria in the country. Eyebrows were raised rather than decibels.

“Just to put this into an American sports context, Pakistan losing to the U.S. is like the Boston Red Sox losing to the Durham Bulls,” NPR claimed. The drama of winning that match in the Super Over could not match Super Bowl overtime levels, but there was no better way to take a first chisel at the mainstream.

That magical win against the South Asian giants wasn’t even in the top 30 watched sports events on June 7. The New York Times ran a brutal headline that read: “U.S. Scores Historic Cricket Win, But Only Pakistan Notices.” The game was played in a converted baseball park, former ground of the Texas AirHogs in the Grand Prairie suburb of Dallas. It wasn’t broadcast on U.S. television but through the specialist Willow TV subscription, the premier broadcaster of cricket in North America for the last two decades.

There’s still much work to do to get the word out that cricket is the next best thing after baseball. It used to have pride of place as the original bat and ball game. Queens-born Aaron Jones gave the launch of the tournament a huge tonic by hitting ten maximums into the crowd in New York as the States beat Canada in a very competitive opener. These were home runs hit in a different set of rules.

The U.S. even gave the No.1 seed India a real fright in the group stage in front of a captivated crowd of over 30,000 at Eishenhower Park. The temporary stand was immediately dismantled after the game. U.S. Cricket will hope that the interest in the sport, the second most popular in the world, doesn’t go the same way. By progressing past the group stage and into the Super 8s, the team achieved direct qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

At least the eight games planned for Long Island went ahead. Florida wasn’t so lucky after suffering from some truly record-breaking thunderstorms. When Pakistan beat Ireland at the Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill, it was the only one of the four matches scheduled that went ahead. The storm that damaged the ground just before the tournament began was clearly a warning of things to come.

The business end of the tournament is now being completed in the Caribbean with the final set to take place at the Kensington Oval, Barbados on 29 June. A week later, the second season of Major League Cricket will take place which will boost the profile of the game once more. The International Cricket Council has granted the MLC List-A status which means all runs, wickets and catches will be taken down as official statistics in the record books.

There will also be A-list players involved, a crucial element in showing that the American franchise attracts the best talent. The tournament’s inaugural edition made revenues of about $ 8 million and attracted some big names in franchise and international cricket. Franchise owners and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have already invested well over $100 million into the League. The MLC also provides a pathway via the draft for an increasing amount of domestic players to hone skills in high-quality company.

Pat Cummins has signed a four-year contract with the San Francisco Unicorns, becoming one of the highest paid players on the roster. Washington Freedom have captured the big-hitting Glenn Maxwell and Travis Head. Other box office talent includes South Africa’s David Miller and Anrich Nortje and New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell.

Ultimately, cricket has come to America with the fanfare of an international tournament and a rising league full of star power in the space of 12 months. The next step is to keep the sequels coming. There’s a gold medal to be won at LA 2028.