| Golden State Grizzlies | |
| League: | Minor League Cricket |
| Conference: | Western Division (Pacific Conference) |
| Colours: | Red, and Gold. |
| Captain: | Sami Aslam |
| City: | Sacramento, California |
| Owner: | ACE |
| Ground: | Arroyo Park |
| T Title: | T20 kit |
| T Pattern La: | _goldborder |
| T Pattern Ra: | _goldborder |
| T Leftarm: | FF0000 |
| T Body: | FF0000 |
| T Rightarm: | FF0000 |
| T Pants: | FFD700 |
The Golden State Grizzlies are an American professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that compete in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). The team is based in Sacramento, California. It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket.[1] The franchise is owned by ACE (American Cricket Enterprises).[2]
The team's home ground is Arroyo Park, located in Davis, California.[3] Sami Aslam currently helms captaincy duties, with Hammad Azam helming vice-captain duties.[4]
Talks of an American Twenty20 league started in November 2018 just before USA Cricket became the new governing body of cricket in the United States.[5] [6] In May 2021, USA Cricket announced they had accepted a bid by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) for a US$1 billion investment covering the league and other investments benefitting the U.S. national teams.[7]
In an Annual General Meeting on February 21, 2020, it was announced that USA Cricket was planning to launch Major League Cricket in 2021 and Minor League Cricket that summer,[8] but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic[9] and due to the lack of high-quality cricket stadiums in the USA.[10] Major League Cricket was pushed to a summer-2023 launch[11] and Minor League Cricket was pushed back to July 31, 2021.[12]
USA Cricket CEO Iain Higgins also pointed out cities such as New York City, Houston and Los Angeles with a large cricket fanbase, and targeted them among others as launch cities for Minor League Cricket.[13]
In July 2020, the player registration for the Minor League Cricket exhibition league began.[14] On August 15, 2020, USA Cricket announced the teams participating in the exhibition league matches, also listing the owners for each team.[15] The draft for the exhibition league began on August 22, 2020,[16] with the Golden State Grizzlies releasing their squad on August 24.[17] Saurabh Netravalkar was later named as captain for the Golden State Grizzlies for the exhibition league.
After the conclusion of the exhibition league, USA Cricket announced that they were planning to launch the inaugural season of Minor League Cricket in spring 2021.[18] Ahead of the official season, which was announced to kick off on July 31,[19] the Grizzlies announced Sami Aslam as captain with Hammad Azam helming vice-captain duties.
Throughout the group stage, the Grizzlies lost to the Strikers twice, and won twice against the Blazers, the Blasters, the Lashings, the Surf Riders, and the Thunderbolts.[20] The Grizzlies additionally won against the Chicago Blasters and the Americans once.[21] The Grizzlies topped the group, thus qualifying for the play-offs.[22]
In the quarterfinals, the Grizzlies bested the Houston Hurricanes in a best-of-three game series 2-0.[23] The Grizzlies headed to the semi-finals to face eventual winners, the Silicon Valley Strikers.[24] The Grizzlies lost by 33 runs against the Strikers as they placed 3rd in the tournament.[25]
Ahead of the 2022 season, Major League Cricket announced that the draft for that season would take place on May 12.[26]
| Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Year signed | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batsmen | |||||||
| Aditya Srinivas | 19 August 1991 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Hammad Azam | 16 March 1991 | Right-handed | 2021 | Overseas | |||
| 18 June 1996 | Right-handed | 2021 | Overseas | ||||
| All-rounders | |||||||
| Abbas Jafri | 15 December 1992 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Abheyender Singh | 21 September 1987 | Left-handed | 2021 | ||||
| 6 December 1997 | Right-handed | 2021 | Overseas | ||||
| Bhavesh Jain | 22 June 1982 | Left-handed | 2021 | Overseas | |||
| Karan Chandel | 27 January 1991 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium fast | 2021 | |||
| 25 April 1990 | Left-handed | 2021 | Overseas | ||||
| Mohit Nataraj | 28 May 1985 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Neeraj Goel | 17 March 1991 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Sami Aslam | 12 December 1995 | Left-handed | 2021 | Overseas captain | |||
| Samson Bhatti | 29 June 1990 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Sheryar Khan | 11 April 1986 | Right-handed | 2021 | Overseas | |||
| Shivam Mishra | 30 August 1992 | Right-handed | 2021 | Overseas | |||
| Vatsal Vaghela | 20 March 2002 | Left-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Wicket-keepers | |||||||
| Saideep Ganesh | 16 May 1997 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||