The finals of the Toyota Minor League Cricket Championship for the second time in a row will take place at the Church Street Park venue on August 27th and 28th in Morrisville, North Carolina. After the conclusion of the regular season, the Conference semi-finals (best of three series) are set to take place on August 20th and 21st, with the winners advancing to the Finals weekend.
The Atlantic Conference Semifinals will see a repeat of last year’s series between New Jersey Stallions and Morrisville Raptors, with the Stallions winning the series and went onto winning the Atlantic Conference. Anthony Bramble and Dominic Rikhi have had a good season for the Stallions, with USA national squad member Jessy Singh also expected to feature for them, having come back from Scotland. Morrisville Captain Dane Piedt will be hoping for more runs from the duo of Lahiru Milantha and Obus Pienaar, along with strong bowling performance from the top two bowlers in the team, Siva Kumar Duvvarapu and Karthikeya Jagadish.
Both Atlanta and Manhattan will welcome back their USA national squad players, with Aaron Jones and Steven Taylor to feature for the Fire, and Gajanand Singh and Yasir Mohammad for the Yorkers. A lot will also depend on Nasir Hossain from Fire, with the squad to be deprived of Rahkeem Cornwall having left to take part in the CPL (Sixty and regular T20 league). The batting department has been one of the strongest of the 2022 MiLC for the Yorkers, with multiple contributions from Bhaskar Yadram and Denesh Patel, and will also be coping with the loss of John Campbell. With strong batting line-up’s for both the teams, their semifinal games could very well be high-scoring encounters.
In the Pacific Conference Semifinals, Defending Champions Silicon Valley Strikes have gone ahead and added more fire power at the top of the order by securing services of former and recently retired West Indies international Lendl Simmons, to add to the dynamic duo of Shehan Jayasuria and Unmukt Chand, having being beaten only once in their fourteen-game regular season this year. USA national squad player Saurabh Netravalkar will be back and will fill the void left by the departure of Raymon Riefer to the CPL, and will team up with Pranay Suri, who has been phenomenal in his six outings so far. The presence of Calvin Savage for the Tigers could be a factor, as they look to not concede over 200 again like the previous edition’s semifinal match. Sami Sohail, Saad Ali and Marques Ackerman will have to be at their best for the Tigers to cause an upset over the Strikers.
Dallas Mustangs have got their reinforcements in the form of USA national squad member Sushant Modani, who will add to the batting line-up along with Willem Ludick and Denesh Ramdin, after the departure of Farhan Sahibzada ahead of the Finals. The bowling department will be buoyed by the return of Noshtush Kenjige, who will team up again with the likes of Naseer Jamali and Ali Sheikh. Andres Gous will be again expected to lead the batting for Seattle Thunderbolts, and have added Canada national squad member Rayyankhan Pathan for the Finals weekend. Seattle does boast of one of the best bowling attacks in the regular season of 2022 MiLC, with Akhilesh Bodugum and Shadley van Schalkwyk getting good support from Harmeet Singh and Phani Simhadri.
Atlantic Conference (Semifinals): New Jersey Stallions vs. Morrisville Raptors @Church St. Park (Scorecard) ; Atlanta Fire vs. Manhattan Yorkers @Atlanta Cricket Fields (Scorecard) ; Morrisville Raptors vs New Jersey Stallions (Scorecard)
Pacific Conference (Semifinals): Silicon Valley Strikers vs. Chicago Tigers @Morgan Hill (Scorecard) ; Dallas Mustangs vs. Seattle Thunderbolts @Moosa Stadium (Scorecard) ; Chicago Tigers vs Silicon Valley Strikers (Scorecard)
Pacific Conference Final: Seattle Thunderbolts vs Silicon Valley Strikers (Scorecard)
Atlantic Conference Final: New Jersey Stallions vs Atlanta Fire (Scorecard)
