| Seattle Thunderbolts | |
| League: | Minor League Cricket |
| Conference: | Western Division (Pacific Conference) |
| Colours: | Pink, and Blue. |
| Captain: | Harmeet Singh |
| City: | Seattle, Washington |
| Owner: | Seattle Sports LLC Phani Chitneni Vijay Beniwal Salman Taj |
| Ceo: | Phani Chitneni Vijay Beniwal Salman Taj |
| Title1: | MiLC |
| Title1wins: | 1 (2022) |
| T Title: | T20 kit |
| T Pattern La: | _blueborder |
| T Pattern Ra: | _blueborder |
| T Leftarm: | FF69B4 |
| T Body: | FF69B4 |
| T Rightarm: | FF69B4 |
| T Pants: | 000000 |
The Seattle Thunderbolts are an American professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that compete in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). The team is based in Seattle, Washington. It was formed in 2021 as part of 3 new teams to compete in Minor League Cricket.[1] The franchise is owned by Seattle Sports LLC, as part of its cricket development program, owned by Phani Chitneni, Vijay Beniwal, and Salman Taj.[2]
The team's home ground is Klahanie Park and Marymoor Park, both located in the Eastside region of King County, Washington.[3] Harmeet Singh was named as captain, while Andries Gous was named as vice-captain for the team.[4]
The current leading run-scorer is Andries Gous,[5] with the highest wicket-taker being Shadley van Schalkwyk.[6]
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.[7] [8] 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.[9]
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,[10] but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic[11] and due to the lack of high-quality cricket stadiums in the USA.[12] Major League Cricket was pushed to a summer-2023 launch[13] and Minor League Cricket was pushed back to July 31, 2021.[14]
USA Cricket CEO Iain Higgins 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.[15]
Before the season's drafting, USA Cricket and American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) announced 3 new teams for the 2021 season including the Seattle Thunderbolts, the Manhattan Yorkers, and the St. Louis Americans.[16] Ahead of the official season, which was announced to kick off on July 31,[17] they announced Harmeet Singh as captain and Andries Gous as vice-captain.
For their first four matches of the season, they lost by a margin of 7, 6, 2, and 7 wickets,[18] [19] [20] before going on a 6-match winning streak.[21] [22] Their winning streak was ended due to a 46-run loss against the Michigan Cricket Stars.[23] They then lost back-to-back matches against the Golden State Grizzlies and the East Bay Blazers,[24] before winning by 7 wickets against the Silicon Valley Strikers in their last match of the season.[25]
They ended off the group stage with 7 wins and 7 losses, ending up in 4th place in their division, thus not qualifying for the finals.[26]
Ahead of the 2022 season, Major League Cricket announced that the draft for that season would take place on May 12.[27]
| Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Year signed | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batsmen | |||||||
| Andries Gous | 24 November 1993 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Deepak Rajendran | 9 September 1997 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2021 | |||
| Harmeet Singh | 7 September 1992 | Right-handed | Left-arm orthodox spin | 2021 | Overseas Captain | ||
| Karan Rao | 1 August 1989 | Left-handed | 2021 | Overseas | |||
| Manu Jacob | 24 April 1984 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2021 | |||
| Nital Vasavada | 15 July 2001 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| All-rounders | |||||||
| Abir Chippa | 13 February 1995 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Damodhar Bhat | 17 December 1991 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Jagroop Raina | 30 September 1998 | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | 2021 | |||
| Rishab Mohan | 10 June 2003 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Sahil Kancherla | 25 April 2000 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Shadley van Schalkwyk | 5 August 1988 | Left-handed | 2021 | Overseas | |||
| Ujjawal Patel | 19 July 1992 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | 2021 | |||
| Varun Potlapally | 9 April 1997 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2021 | |||
| Phani Simhadri | 13 May 2002 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Wicket-keepers | |||||||
| Mudi Prajith | 17 September 1989 | Right-handed | 2021 | Overseas | |||
| Bowlers | |||||||
| Anirudh Srinivas | 8 March 1997 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Manoj Panwar | 5 June 1998 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||