Aaron Finch and Marcus Stoinis have already signed, and several other top Australians could soon join them in Major League Cricket. DANIEL CHERNY has the details.
Australian internationals Adam Zampa, Josh Philippe, Moises Henriques and Matthew Wade are among those on the radar of organisers for this year’s inaugural Major League Cricket event in the US.
With the ICC having recently given approval to the tournament, a group of prominent Aussies are in talks about signing with MLC clubs where they would join a league that already boasts the signatures of former Australian white-ball captain Aaron Finch and national team mainstay Marcus Stoinis.
It’s understood fringe national wicketkeeper/batter Philippe, and veteran all-rounder Henriques are both targets of the Washington Freedom franchise, who are aligned with Cricket NSW in a deal announced earlier this year.
As some of the most prominent players in the Sydney Sixers Big Bash League, Philippe and Henriques are both obvious targets for the Washington club given the Cricket NSW partnership.
Zampa, Australia’s long-time frontline white-ball spinner, is being linked to the Los Angeles Knight Riders, a club owned by the Knight Riders Group which runs the Indian Premier League’s Kolkata Knight Riders and is owned by Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan.
Wade, who has effectively become a freelancer in the latter stages of his career, is also likely to play for a MLC club in the competition that begins in July. He has been linked in reports to the Texas Super Kings.
Finch, who like Wade has become a gun for hire after his international retirement earlier this year, was announced as the foundation captain of the San Francisco Unicorns, where Stoinis has also joined. The San Francisco team has a partnership with Cricket Victoria.
Mitchell Marsh has signed with the Seattle Orcas but that predated his ascension to Australia’s Test squad, which has placed his involvement in major doubt given the first MLC season overlaps with the back half of the Ashes tour.
While Steve Smith has spoken about his love of New York, who also has a franchise, the batting great’s involvement in the Ashes is set to delay his involvement in the American league for at least a year.
West Indians Andre Russell and Sunil Narine and Pakistani Haris Rauf are some of the other leading T20 players being privately linked to the league.
South Africans Anrich Nortje and Quinton de Kock have already signed with MLC clubs, as has Sri Lankan star Wanindu Hasaranga.
That several of the MLC clubs are backed by IPL owners is significant against a backdrop of IPL clubs seeking to contract leading players – including Australians – to year-round contracts in which they would effectively need to be loaned out for international duties in a similar manner to that in world football.
MLC has also emerged as a challenger to England’s short-form Blast and Hundred competitions given its time in the year.