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The 2023 Major League Cricket final was a day/night 20-over cricket match played on July 30, 2023, at Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas between the Seattle Orcas and the MI New York to determine the winner of the inaugural season of Major League Cricket. The MI New York won the match and the title by defeating the Seattle Orcas by 6 wickets. MI New York player, Nicholas Pooran, was named man of the match for his 55-ball 137*.

Background

On June 13, 2023, the schedule for the 2023 season of Major League Cricket was released. 2 venues, Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas and Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina were scheduled to host the games. The play-off schedule was announced on the same day, with Grand Prairie due to host all play-off matches. The final was played between Seattle and New York on July 30, with the latter winning the title by 7 wickets.

Road to the final

Group stage

In the start to their inaugural campaign, the Orcas went top of the table by recording a 5-wicket win over the Washington Freedom, a 35-run win over the San Francisco Unicorns, and an 8-wicket win over the Texas Super Kings. The Orcas' winning streak was snapped, however, during a 2-wicket defeat to the Los Angeles Knight Riders. A 2-wicket win over MI New York assured the Orcas' a first-place finish going into the finals nevertheless.

In contrast, New York began their campaign with a 22-run defeat to San Francisco. This was followed by a 105-run win over Los Angeles in their second game, a 17-run loss to Texas in their third, and a 8-wicket win over Washington in their fourth. In their final group stage game, they lost to table-toppers Seattle by 2 wickets. Despite the loss, they nevertheless still qualified for the play-offs.

Playoffs

The playoffs were played in a similar fashion to the Big Bash League, with Seattle defeating Texas by 9 wickets in the Qualifier and New York recording back-to-back victories against Washington and Texas in the Eliminator and Challenger matches, respectively, to go to the finals.

• Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to field.

• Texas Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat.

• MI New York won the toss and elected to field.

Match

Match officials

• On-field umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Paul Wilson (AUS)
• Third umpire: Billy Taylor (ENG)
• Reserve umpire: Jermaine Lindo (USA)
• Match referee: Simon Taufel (AUS)
• Toss: MI New York won the toss and elected to field.

Summary

Following New York's decision to field first, Quinton de Kock played a brilliant knock of 87 runs off 56 deliveries, with Shubham Ranjane's 29 off 16 and Dwaine Pretorius's cameo of 21 runs off 7 taking Seattle to 183 runs for the loss of 9 wickets. With the ball for New York, Rashid Khan and Trent Boult both picked up 3 wickets a piece, with Steven Taylor and David Wiese taking a wicket each. In the chase, Imad Wasim and Wayne Parnell got some early breakthroughs for Seattle but couldn't stop Nicholas Pooran's stunning knock of 137* off 55 deliveries taking New York to a maiden MLC title.

Seattle Orcas innings

Seattle got off to a slow start, with New York's Trent Boult and spinners keeping Quinton de Kock and Nauman Anwar in check. Anwar eventually fell in the fourth over to Rashid Khan, trying to loft a back-of-a-length delivery over leg. de Kock and Shehan Jayasuriya steadied the innings, accumulating 41 runs for the second wicket, before Jayasuriya was out caught and bowled by Steven Taylor. Hienrich Klaasen, too, fell for 4 off Rashid's bowling in the twelfth over. Thunderbolts' player Shubham Ranjane then came in a played a cameo of 29 as de Kock fell for 87 to Trent Boult. Imad Wasim and Andrew Tye fell for relatively low scores in the death before Pretorius's cameo of 21 in the final over powered Seattle to 183 for 9.

MI New York innings

In response to Seattle's 183 for 9, New York's Steven Taylor was bowled by Wasim early into the innings, trying to loft a shot for a maximum. Even as Nicholas Pooran was unleashing a blistering assault at the other end, Shayan Jahangir failed to pick up the pace and was eventually caught by Tye off Parnell for 10. Dewald Brevis then came into the mix, with him rotating the strike back to Pooran, who was single-handedly winning the game for New York. Seattle's bowlers were unable to find a response against Pooran, before they finally found a breakthrough after Brevis was run out for 20. With the score 137/3 after 12.2, Pooran and Tim David steered the chase and won the game for New York by 7 wickets.

• MI New York won the toss and elected to field.
• The MI New York won the inaugural Major League Cricket tournament as a result of this match.

Scorecard

Fall of wickets: 25/1 (Nauman Anwar, 4.1 ov.), 66/2 (Shehan Jayasuriya, 9.1 ov.), 91/3 (Heinrich Klaasen, 12.1 ov.), 142/4 (Quinton de Kock†, 16.1 ov.), 157/5 (Imad Wasim, 17.6 ov.), 157/6 (Shubham Ranjane, 18.1 ov.), 163/7 (Andrew Tye, 18.5 ov.), 181/8 (Dwaine Pretorius, 19.5 ov.), 183/9 (Wayne Parnell, 19.6 ov.)

Fall of wickets: 0/1 (Steven Taylor, 0.3 ov.), 62/2 (Shayan Jahangir, 4.6 ov.), 137/3 (Dewald Brevis, 12.2 ov.)

References

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2. King, Hope (July 28, 2023). "Cricket's biggest moment in the U.S." Axios. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
3. Dart, Tom (July 30, 2023). "'This is an American league': Major League Cricket drops curtain on maiden campaign". The Guardian. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
4. Abraham, Timothy (July 30, 2023). "Major League Cricket: Nicholas Pooran century inspires MI New York to inaugural title". BBC Sport. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
5. Johnson, Kristen (June 16, 2023). "Major League Cricket is coming to Morrisville. How to go to the games this summer". The News & Observer. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
6. Khan, Yusuf (July 26, 2023). "Major League Cricket Is Here—in a Minor-League Baseball Stadium". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
7. Richie, Sasha (July 10, 2023). "'Cricket City, USA:' Grand Prairie is home to a new sports league with deep ties for many". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
8. Skipworth, William (July 31, 2023). "Billionaire Ambani's New York Cricket Team Wins First Ever U.S. Major League Cricket Championship". Forbes. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
9. "MLC: Seattle Orcas clinch five-wicket win over Washington Freedom in a thriller". The Sun. July 15, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
10. "Klaasen, bowlers fire Orcas to second win". Cricbuzz. July 15, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
11. "Hetmyer shines with cameo in MLC". The Jamaica Star. July 17, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
12. "Wayne Parnell's 5-for takes Orcas top of MLC 2023 table". Cricket.com. July 17, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
13. "MLC 2023: Rilee Rossouw helps LA Knight Riders end winless run with a thrilling victory". The Times of India. July 23, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
14. ^ "Klaasen century takes Seattle past New York in high-scoring game". ESPNcricinfo. July 24, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
15. Patel, Smit (July 15, 2023). "Corey Anderson finds redemption at MLC after USA snub". Cricbuzz. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
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17. "Major League Cricket: MI New York crush Los Angeles Knight Riders for first win". The Times of India. July 16, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
18. "Devon Conway stars in Texas Super Kings' 17-run win over MI New York". The Times of India. July 18, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
19. Jackson, Bradley (July 24, 2023). "Pooran hits 62* to help MI New York move one step closer to MLC playoffs". Sportsmax. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
20. Pant, Ashish (July 11, 2023). "MLC: Teams, players, format, fixtures, and everything else you need to know". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
21. "Explained: Major League Cricket's IPL connection, format, venue, squads, dates and all you need to know". WION. July 13, 2023. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
22. Pant, Ashish (July 31, 2023). "MLC final week: Nicholas Pooran, and a bit of this and that". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
23. Walsh, Henry (July 31, 2023). "De Kock's fireworks display in vain". rnews.co.za. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
24. Pielucci, Mike (August 1, 2023). "Scenes From the First-Ever Major League Cricket Final". D Magazine. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
25. Shaw, Greg (July 31, 2023). "Seattle Orcas lose cricket championship game, but tech owners thrilled with inaugural season". GeekWire. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
26. Lavalette, Tristan (July 31, 2023). "Major League Cricket Starts With A Bang In America Despite Obstacles". Forbes. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
27. "Nicholas Pooran's blitzkrieg ton hands MI New York Major League Cricket 2023 title". The Indian Express. July 31, 2023. Retrieved August 9, 2023.

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