The first season of Major League Cricket is in the books, and it was bigger than even the most hopeful fans expected. Two sites in Grand Prarie, Texas and Morrisville, North Carolina sold out all their games, with MI New York winning the inaugural championship over the weekend in a thrilling game against the Seattle Orcas.
Testing the water for cricket in the United States was a fascinating proposition with an uncertain outcome. International star players had no idea what to expect, or how cricket would be received on a major level. Liam Plunkett, a former England international, and Corey Anderson of New Zealand played for the San Francisco Unicorns this season. They sat down with SB Nation.com thanks to the help of league sponsor Royal to discuss what it was like playing in the United States for MLC this season, and where they think the league goes from here.
Both Plunkett and Anderson were thrilled to be a part of the first season of professional cricket in the United States. “It’s been great to play in a very high-performance competition,” Plunkett says, adding that he was proud of how the Unicorns competed this season even if they didn’t come through in the end. “As a spectacle, it was great.”
Meanwhile Anderson has played all over the world in a variety of leagues, but said the atmosphere in the USA didn’t feel very foreign “Honestly, it’s not too much different. When you arrive at the ground and see the crowd, it’s clear to see that the South Asian contingent is very strong here in the US. They are loud and great supporters which creates a great atmosphere.”
The biggest difference comes away from the game, as the majority of Americans don’t know cricket, but he notes that the success of the league kept drawing more attention as it progressed.
One major distinction between MLC and other leagues around the world was the lack of professional players to pull from. Teams this season were made up of a combination of homegrown U.S. players who spent their time in small rec leagues, playing alongside some of cricket’s biggest stars. Initially one might think that the competition suffered as a result, but Anderson sees it another way. “It’s great to have some homegrown talent playing alongside the best in the world,” he says, “To put themselves against the best in the world is going to make the homegrown players improve, and to put them in that environment will make them hungry, too.”
The hope is, in time, that more potential players will be attracted to the sport, and the possibility of playing professionally could cause some athletes to dedicate themselves to cricket more.
Plunkett and Anderson are committed to the United States long-term. Both have partners who are from the USA, and now see themselves as instrumental in building cricket in this new market. “I think you might say a few more franchises pop up and I think a lot of the franchises will have their own facilities and stadium,” says Plunkett — who adds that the competition is already great. Anderson admits there’s a lot of work to be done in order to cultivate cricket in the U.S., but sees the potential “Creating infrastructure in numerous hubs is a long-term goal, and I think that will be the focal point over the coming years. There is still a lot of work to be done, but hopefully with the right people in place, USA can be one of the powerhouses of cricket in years to come.”
For now, they’re just enjoying life in the USA and have some time off to spend with friends and family before the next season of MLC, which promises to be even bigger and better than 2023. While the cricket might be the same, the food is definitely different and I couldn’t resist asking what the most challenging “American” food they’ve both had since moving stateside has been. “Grits,” Plunkett says, “It’s a bit like a paste, isn’t it? I had some bad pork belly and grits.”
As for Anderson, he’s paid attention to baseball a lot and while not technically food, he’s mystified by a tradition. “Dipping. It’s something I used to see the baseball players do when they were in the dugout, and I never quite understood it, and still don’t to this day.”
Cricket is alive thanks to players like Liam Plunkett and Corey Anderson. Now the sky is the limit for the fast-growing sport capturing the imaginations of a new generation.
Special thanks to Royal for arranging this interview with SB Nation.
Liam Plunkett and Corey Anderson tell SB Nation what it’s like to play professional cricket in the USA
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