The one-day tri-series played between USA training squad and two teams representing Major League Cricket (Gold and Silver) provided a strong preview of what to expect in the upcoming Minor League Cricket in 2021.
Some of the U19 players who are selected for National trials camp also took part in the senior level competition. All the matches took place at the Prairie View Cricket Complex in Houston, Texas.
The USA Training squad had a good outing in the competition, registering wins in 3 matches out of 4 games played during the event. Most of the players who were part of Houston Open T20 tournament played at the same venue earlier this month were playing in the one-day matches.
All the players will be representing their franchise clubs in the regional Minor League Cricket competition, with the opportunity to get picked up by franchises in the 2022 Major League Cricket competition. There will be few additions in the squads with the arrival of International and domestic players from South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The exhibition matches held between the Minor League teams in their respective regions due to travel restrictions in place owing to COVID-19 pandemic were also successful in 2020, and some of the players have got to play good competitive cricket now in the past few weeks in Houston.
Select Scores
MLC Gold 205 all out in 49 overs (Sami Aslam 72, Willem Ludick 56 n.o, Ali Sheikh 3/22, Aaron Jones 2/19, Elmore Hutchinson 2/31, Nosthush Kenjige 2/34) lost to USA Training squad XI 208/9 in 49.1 overs (Elmore Hutchinson 37 n.o, Monank Patel 35, Saurabh Netravalkar 25, Ali Sheikh 22, Harmeet Singh 3/21, Willem Ludick 3/43) by 1 wicket
USA Training squad XI 277/8 in 50 overs (Steven Taylor 118, Aaron Jones 41, Xavier Marshall 29, Shuja Naqvi 4/70, Ruchir Josh 2/54, Corne Dry 2/55) beat MLC Silver 190 all out in 44.4 overs (Smit Patel 60, Saideep Ganesh 35, Josh Dascombe 27, Siddharth Matani 5/31, Aaron Jones 3/38) by 87 runs
MLC Gold 249/6 in 50 overs (Sanjay Krishnamurthi 67, Cody Chetty 57, Saideep Ganesh 47, Sami Aslam 32, Saurabh Netravalkar 3/38, Steven Taylor 1/41) beat USA Training squad XI 232 all out in 48.5 overs (Steven Taylor 72, Sushant Modani 67, Dominic Rikkhi 36, Abhishek Paradkar 3/54, Dane Piedt 1/30, Willem Ludick 1/38, Shadley van Schalkwyk 1/42) by 17 runs
