| 2024 Major League Cricket season | |
| Fromdate: | July 5 |
| Todate: | 28, 2024 |
| Administrator: | American Cricket Enterprises USA Cricket |
| Cricket Format: | Twenty20 |
| Tournament Format: | Round-robin and playoffs |
| Host: |  United States |
| Champions: | Washington Freedom |
| Count: | 1 |
| Runner Up: | San Francisco Unicorns |
| Participants: | 6 |
| Matches: | 25 |
| Player Of The Series: | Travis Head (Washington Freedom) |
| Most Runs: | Faf du Plessis (Texas Super Kings) (420) |
| Most Wickets: | Saurabh Netravalkar (Washington Freedom) (15) |
| Website: | Major League Cricket |
| Previous Year: | 2023 |
| Previous Tournament: | 2023 Major League Cricket season |
| Next Year: | 2025 |
| Next Tournament: | 2025 Major League Cricket season |
The 2024 Major League Cricket season (also known as MLC 2024, or for sponsorship reasons as 2024 Cognizant Major League Cricket) was the second season of Major League Cricket,[1] [2] a franchise Twenty20 cricket league established in 2019 by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) in the United States.[3] The season was hosted, as was the case the previous season, at two venues: Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas and Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina.[4] The season was played from July 5 to 28, 2024, with the Washington Freedom defeating the San Francisco Unicorns by 96 runs to win the tournament.[5]
MI New York were the defending champions.[6]
In December 2023, it was announced that the second season of the tournament would begin on July 5, 2024, four days after the conclusion of the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.[7] This was later moved back a day to July 5.[8] It was also reported that matches would be played at Grand Prairie Stadium, alongside other venues.[9] By March 2024, MLC had announced that they had signed Cognizant to serve as the season's title sponsor.[10]
On February 15, 2024, the overseas players' retention lists were announced, with the number of overseas slots having been upped to nine.[11] In the following months, teams would go on to select further overseas players, including Australian cricketers Steven Smith and Travis Head.[12] [13] The domestic players' draft was virtually held on March 21, 2024, with a total of 20 players being picked by teams over 10 rounds.[14] An additional draft was scheduled for June 16 for teams to complete their squads.[15]
The season schedule was released by MLC on May 7, with defending champions MI New York facing the Seattle Orcas in the season opener, and the final set for July 28 at Grand Prairie Stadium.[16] Later that month, MLC announced that they had obtained official List A status for all tournament fixtures, becoming the second Associate-run league to have it alongside the ILT20.[17]
All the six teams from the previous season took part this season.
See main article: 2024 Major League Cricket players' draft. A minimum of 16 and a maximum of 19 players can be selected by teams with a cap of nine overseas players. The teams also can retain any domestic players during the retention window, which was open until February 29, 2024.[18] Teams were allowed to select any remaining domestic players during MLC's domestic draft, which was held on March 21, 2024, and a supplementary draft, which was held on June 16.[19]
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Matches are set to held at two venues, Grand Prairie Stadium with a capacity of 7,200 located in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Church Street Park with a capacity of 3,500, located in Morrisville, North Carolina.[20]
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See main article: 2024 Major League Cricket final.
| Runs | Player | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 420 | Faf du Plessis | Texas Super Kings | 8 | 100 | 171.42 | 52.50 | |
| 336 | Steve Smith | Washington Freedom | 9 | 88 | 148.67 | 56.00 | |
| Travis Head | 9 | 77 | 173.19 | 48.00 | |||
| 306 | Finn Allen | San Francisco Unicorns | 9 | 101 | 187.73 | 34.00 | |
| 293 | Devon Conway | Texas Super Kings | 8 | 62 | 143.62 | 58.60 | |
| Source: ESPNCricinfo | |||||||
| Player | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | Saurabh Netravalkar | Washington Freedom | 7 | 26.2 | 4/35 | 7.67 | |
| 12 | Rachin Ravindra | Washington Freedom | 6 | 15.1 | 4/11 | 4.81 | |
| 11 | Cameron Gannon | Seattle Orcas | 7 | 23.0 | 3/26 | 9.21 | |
| Marco Jansen | Washington Freedom | 8 | 31.0 | 3/28 | 8.61 | ||
| 10 | Hassan Khan | San Francisco Unicorns | 7 | 22.0 | 3/5 | 7.09 | |
| Rashid Khan | MI New York | 7 | 26 | 3/22 | 6.15 | ||
| Glenn Maxwell | Washington Freedom | 8 | 25.3 | 3/15 | 6.66 | ||
| Lockie Ferguson | 7 | 25.2 | 4/26 | 7.26 | |||
| Source: ESPNCricinfo | |||||||
On July 29, 2024, a list of end of season awards was announced.[21]
| Team | Award | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Travis Head | Washington Freedom | Most Valuable Player | |
| Faf du Plessis | Texas Super Kings | Leading run scorer | |
| Saurabh Netravalkar | Washington Freedom | Leading wicket taker | |
| Hassan Khan | San Francisco Unicorns | Domestic Player of the Series |