Steve Smith is apparently in negotiations with the owners of a new American T20 league about playing cricket in the United States next year.
Steve Smith is apparently in negotiations with the owners of a new American T20 league about playing cricket in the United States next year. The inaugural Major League Cricket competition begins this July in Texas and North Carolina and will last three weeks. The six-team competition has gained financial support from affluent Indian businesses and celebrities, with Microsoft CEO Satya Nardella and Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan investing more than AU$174 million.
Each of the six clubs — Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Seattle, and New York City — has a $1.5 million pay ceiling for 18 players, with a maximum of seven overseas stars. Cricket NSW established a strategic relationship with MLC last week, which will allow American players to compete in NSW Premier Cricket and Australian players to compete in the US T20 league. Furthermore, CNSW has agreed to a high-performance collaboration with the Washington DC club, with New South Wales anticipated to provide players and staff.
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“With the global cricket landscape currently undergoing a significant transition, we view the United States as a market with immense growth potential,” CNSW chief executive Lee Germon said in a statement “NSW’s track record in high-performance cricket and elite match operations is second to none and we believe we can bring a raft of experience to MLC and the Washington D.C. franchise in the coming years.”
Smith, who has made New York his second home, will not be available for this year’s MLC competition because it clashes with the Ashes, but the 33-year-old has been in talks with the competition’s bosses about a return in 2024, according to News Corp. The Men’s T20 World Cup is set to begin in the United States and the West Indies in June of next year, and Smith may have a free slot after the competition.
“We’ve been in touch with Steve about his plans and what he’s thinking,” MLC co-founder Sameer Mehta told News Corp. What he’d love to do at some point is play cricket in the US as his schedule permits. His view was that if he could make it work and if we could make it work – I know this season, he has commitments. I don’t know what the Australian calendar is next year but I believe there is enough space for him to potentially play.” “Long-term … our view is that we might see a lot of him in the US.”
“There’s obviously leagues popping up everywhere around the world now, and I think you’ll probably see more players in the back end of their career going down that route, so it’s potentially something I’ll look at in the future,” Smith told the SMH in September. “The US has been a market that cricket’s been trying to get into for some time. So yeah, I think it’d be interesting to see how it goes.”