Jump to content

Silicon Valley Strikers

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Silicon Valley Strikers
LeagueMinor League Cricket
ConferenceWestern Division (Pacific Conference)
Personnel
CaptainUnmukt Chand
OwnerStanford Strikers LLC
Team information
CitySilicon Valley, California
Colours  Cyan, and   Blue.
Founded2020; 4 years ago (2020)
Home groundMorgan Hills Outdoor Sports Complex
History
MiLC wins1 (2021)

T20 kit

The Silicon Valley Strikers are an American professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that compete in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). The team is based in Silicon Valley, California. It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket.[1] The franchise is owned by Stanford Strikers LLC.[2]

The team's home ground is Morgan Hills Outdoor Sports Complex, located in Morgan Hill, California.[3] Pranay Suri was named as captain for the 2023 Minor league season, replacing Unmukt Chand.[4]

The current leading run-scorer is Unmukt Chand,[5] with the highest wicket-taker being Pranay Suri.[6]

Franchise history

[edit]

Background

[edit]

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 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.[15]

Exhibition league

[edit]

In July 2020, the player registration for the Minor League Cricket exhibition league began.[16] On August 15, 2020, USA Cricket announced the teams participating in the exhibition league matches, also listing the owners for each team.[17] The draft for the exhibition league began on August 22, 2020,[18] with the Silicon Valley Strikers releasing their squad on August 24.[19] Shadley van Schalkwyk was later named as captain for the Silicon Valley Strikers in the exhibition league.[19]

2021 season

[edit]
See also: 2021 Minor League Cricket season

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.[20] Ahead of the official season, which was announced to kick off on July 31,[21] they announced Unmukt Chand as captain and Pranay Suri as vice-captain (although originally Suri was captain, due to Chand not being called in the squad until the third week[22]).[4]

In their first match of the season, the Strikers defeated the Thunderbolts by 2 wickets.[23] They then went on to win against the Master Blasters,[24] the Surf Riders twice,[25][26] the Blazers twice,[25] the Lashings,[27] the Grizzlies twice,[26][27] and the Thunderbolts again.[28][29] They additionally lost against the Lashings,[23] the Master Blasters,[30] and the Thunderbolts[31] throughout the group stage. They placed 2nd in their group, thus qualifying the Strikers for the quarter-finals.[32]

In the quarter-finals, the Strikers won against the Austin Athletics in a best-of-3 series 2-1, qualifying them for the semi-finals.[33] During the semi-finals, the Strikers bowled out the Grizzlies for 135 to win by 33 runs and take them to the finals.[34] In the finals, they won against the Stallions by 6 wickets to win their maiden MiLC title.[35]

2022 season

[edit]

Ahead of the 2022 season, Major League Cricket announced that the draft for that season would take place on May 12.[36]

Current squad

[edit]
  • Players with international caps are listed in bold.
Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Year signed Notes
Batsmen
Arsh Buch  United States (1994-10-22) 22 October 1994 (age 30) Right-handed Right-arm medium 2021
Narsingh Deonarine  Guyana (1983-08-16) 16 August 1983 (age 41) Left-handed Right-arm off-break 2020 Overseas
Rohith Ramkumar  United States (1985-01-18) 18 January 1985 (age 39) Right-handed Right-arm medium 2021
Roshon Primus  Barbados (1995-08-14) 14 August 1995 (age 29) Right-handed Left-arm medium 2021 Overseas
Unmukt Chand  India (1993-03-26) 26 March 1993 (age 31) Right-handed Right-arm off-break 2021 Overseas captain
All-rounders
Anoop Krishnan  United States (1987-03-06) 6 March 1987 (age 37) Right-handed Right-arm medium 2021
Dev Thadani  United States (1998-09-17) 17 September 1998 (age 26) Right-handed Right-arm medium 2021
Dilpreet Billing  United States (1991-07-15) 15 July 1991 (age 33) Right-handed Right-arm fast 2020
Gary Graham  Jamaica (1982-08-06) 6 August 1982 (age 42) Right-handed Right-arm medium 2020 Overseas
Pranay Suri  United States (1992-12-22) 22 December 1992 (age 31) Right-handed Right-arm off-break 2020 Vice-captain
Rushil Ugarkar  United States (2003-06-30) 30 June 2003 (age 21) Right-handed Right-arm fast medium 2021
Shehan Jayasuriya  Sri Lanka (1991-09-12) 12 September 1991 (age 33) Left-handed Right-arm off break 2021 Overseas
Srinivas Raghavan  United States (1992-12-04) 4 December 1992 (age 31) Right-handed Right-arm off break 2020
Umang Parikh  United States (1993-03-24) 24 March 1993 (age 31) Left-handed Left-arm Spin 2021
Bowlers
Abhishek Paradkar  United States (2000-11-08) 8 November 2000 (age 24) Left-handed Left-handed medium 2021
Kulvinder Singh  United States (1983-04-25) 25 April 1983 (age 41) Right-handed Left-arm medium 2021
Saurabh Netravalkar  United States (1991-10-16) 16 October 1991 (age 33) Right-handed Left-arm medium 2021
Wicket-keepers
Rahul Jariwala  United States (2004-06-03) 3 June 2004 (age 20) Right-handed 2020

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Minor League Cricket Announces Franchise Owners and Draft Owners". USA Cricket. August 15, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  2. ^ Hays, Nate (August 18, 2020). "Minor League Cricket announces teams and owners list, draft on August 22, exhibition games tentative". Emerging Cricket. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  3. ^ "Minor League Division Preview Series - Western". Major League Cricket. August 1, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Pre-Draft Selections Confirmed by 21 Minor League Cricket Teams as Draft Day Looms". USA Cricket. June 4, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  5. ^ "Silicon Valley Strikers Batting - Minor League Cricket". CricClubs.com. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  6. ^ "Silicon Valley Strikers Bowling - Minor League Cricket". CricClubs.com. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  7. ^ Penna, Peter Della (January 8, 2019). "USA formally approved to rejoin ICC as Associate Member under USA Cricket". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  8. ^ Penna, Peter Della (November 27, 2018). "USA plan to launch their T20 League in 2021". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  9. ^ "USA Cricket Chooses Partner to Fund and Develop U.S.-Based Professional T20 Cricket League". USA Cricket. May 23, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  10. ^ "USA Cricket Board Meeting February 2020". USA Cricket. February 27, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  11. ^ "USA Cricket re-evaluating Major League Cricket debut timing due to Covid-19 concerns". SportBusiness. August 2, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  12. ^ "American Major League Cricket tournament launch pushed to 2023 at Annual General Meeting". Inside the Games. May 24, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  13. ^ Penna, Peter Della (May 21, 2021). "USA's MLC T20 tournament pushed back to 2023 at AGM". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  14. ^ Penna, Peter Della (July 30, 2021). "Minor League Cricket: T20 league in USA kicks off with Sami Aslam, Corey Anderson in the mix". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  15. ^ Penna, Peter Della (February 27, 2020). "New York, Boston, Chicago, LA among 22 targeted launch cities for USA T20 competition". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  16. ^ "Minor League Cricket Announces Player Registration Opening". USA Cricket. July 7, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  17. ^ "Minor League Cricket Announces Franchise Owners and Draft Update". USA Cricket. August 15, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  18. ^ "Inaugural Minor League Cricket Draft to Take Place Today". USA Cricket. August 22, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  19. ^ a b "Minor League Cricket Draft results with 15 Squads Selected". USA Cricket. August 24, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  20. ^ "USA Cricket Launches Foundational Plan". USA Cricket. October 15, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  21. ^ "American Cricket History to be Made on Minor League Cricket Opening Weekend". Major League Cricket. USA Cricket. July 29, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  22. ^ "Unmukt Chand Signs Multi-Year Agreement with Major League Cricket". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. August 13, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  23. ^ a b "The Monday All Rounder - Opening Weekend". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. August 2, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  24. ^ "The Monday All Rounder - Week Two". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. August 9, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  25. ^ a b "The Monday All Rounder - Week 3". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. August 16, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  26. ^ a b Patel, Smit (September 2, 2021). "Minor Cricket League Week 5: Ricardo Powell turns back the clock". CricBuzz. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  27. ^ a b "Minor League Cricket 2021: Unmukt Chand scores a match-winning 56* for his team Silicon Valley Strikers". CricTracker.com. August 23, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  28. ^ "The Tuesday All Rounder - Week Six". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. September 7, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  29. ^ Mehta, Nilesh (September 13, 2021). "The rise of cricket in the United States of America". Sportstar. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  30. ^ "The Monday All Rounder - Week Five". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. August 30, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  31. ^ "The Monday All Rounder - Week Seven". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. September 13, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  32. ^ "The Monday All Rounder - Week Eight". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. September 20, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  33. ^ "Unmukt Chand smashes 69-ball 132 to help team chase down 190, makes waves in America's Minor League Cricket". India Today. September 29, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  34. ^ "Inaugural Minor League Cricket Champion to be Crowned this Weekend". Major League Cricket. USA Cricket. September 30, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  35. ^ Paynter, Jack (December 7, 2021). "'Liberated' Indian star on the verge of BBL history". Cricket Australia. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  36. ^ "Title and Presenting Partners Announced for 2022 Minor League Cricket Championship". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. May 5, 2022. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Silicon_Valley_Strikers&oldid=1243498102"