- Minor League Cricket Draft set for Saturday August 22nd – five separate drafts taking place with locally based players available for selection
- 18 of the Minor League Teams to have finalized their full squads today
- 6 teams to complete their regional drafts in the coming weeks – Illinois, Michigan and Florida teams to draft in September
The first ever Minor League Cricket Draft will take place today with 18 of the 24 teams ready to select their squads for the inaugural season of Minor League Cricket (MiLC), which will launch in Spring 2021.
Following the successful Player Registration process, over 2,000 eligible players are available for selection in today’s draft. The draft will take place via video conference and will be phased across 5 geographic zones, commencing with the Eastern Conference selections from 10.30am EDT and working across to the Northern California picks at 2pm PDT. All teams partaking in the draft today have now locked in their 9 priority picks, which include the Wildcard professional and two domestic professional players. At today’s draft, 15 teams will have the chance to select 9 additional players from the registered players in their draft zone to complete their 18-man squads. Each 18-man squad must include a minimum of three Under 21 players.
Three of the teams will be selecting their players from their own geographic region, and therefore have no requirement for a formal draft process. The Morrisville Cardinals, DC Hawks and New England Eagles will have the full day on Saturday to complete their selections and submit their rosters to Minor League Cricket.
The remaining 6 teams from Illinois, Michigan and Florida will undertake their draft in the coming weeks when their regional player pools are completed and ready for drafting.
The full list of teams and their status for the Draft is as follows;
| Eastern Conference | ||
| Home City | Team Name | Draft Status |
| Boston | New England Eagles | Exclusive Draft Zone – Squad to be submitted on 22 August |
| New Jersey | New Jersey Somerset Cavaliers Cricket Club | Eastern Conference Draft 22 August – 10.30am EDT |
| New Jersey | New Jersey Stallions | Eastern Conference Draft 22 August – 10.30am EDT |
| New York | Empire State Titans | Eastern Conference Draft 22 August – 10.30am EDT |
| Philadelphia | The Philadelphians | Eastern Conference Draft 22 August – 10.30am EDT |
| Washington DC | DC Hawks | Exclusive Draft Zone – Squad to be submitted on 22 August |
| Western Conference | ||
| Home City | Team Name | Draft Status |
| Bay Peninsula | Silicon Valley Strikers | Northern California Draft 22 August – 2pm PDT |
| East Bay | Bay Blazers | Northern California Draft 22 August – 2pm PDT |
| Los Angeles | Hollywood Master Blasters | Southern California Draft 22 August – 1pm PDT |
| Los Angeles | SoCal Lashings | Southern California Draft 22 August – 1pm PDT |
| Sacramento | Golden State Grizzlies | Northern California Draft 22 August – 2pm PDT |
| San Diego | San Diego Surf Riders | Southern California Draft 22 August – 1pm PDT |
| Central Conference | ||
| Home City | Team Name | Draft Status |
| Austin | Austin Athletics | Texas Region Draft 22 August – 1.30pm CDT |
| Chicago | Chicago Blasters | Draft date in coming weeks |
| Chicago | Chicago Catchers | Draft date in coming weeks |
| Dallas | Irving Mustangs | Texas Region Draft 22 August – 1.30pm CDT |
| Houston | Houston Hurricanes | Texas Region Draft 22 August – 1.30pm CDT |
| Michigan | Michigan Cricket Stars | Draft date in coming weeks |
| Southern Conference | ||
| Home City | Team Name | Draft Status |
| Atlanta | Atlanta Fire | Atlanta Region Draft 22 August – 12.15pm EDT |
| Atlanta | Atlanta Param Veers | Atlanta Region Draft 22 August – 12.15pm EDT |
| Ft. Lauderdale | Ft. Lauderdale Lions | Draft date in coming weeks |
| Miami | Florida Beamers | Draft date in coming weeks |
| Morrisville | Morrisville Cardinals | Exclusive Draft Zone – Squad to be submitted on 22 August |
| Orlando | Orlando Galaxy | Draft date in coming weeks |
Final squads and further details of the MiLC Draft will be announced throughout the weekend via USA Cricket’s social media channels. Please follow @USACricket for the latest updates on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
More on Minor League Cricket can be found here: https://www.majorleaguecricket.com/minorleaguecricket.
