Cricket New South Wales (CNSW), a Cricket Australia professional first class cricket team based in Sydney, has entered into a partnership with Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States that will include collaboration on player development initiatives, touring opportunities and coaching education exchanges. CSNW will also be part of a high-performance partnership with the Washington D.C. franchise, which is one of the six (6) franchise teams set to take part in the inaugural edition of the tournament from July 13th – 30th, 2023.
The partnership will initially focus on a number of high-performance oriented initiatives, including player development opportunities for the USA based players within premier cricket competitions organized by CNSW and also for teams comprising of USA based players to compete against CSNW representative teams. CSNW will also help with the future development programs for cricket in the USA, keeping in mind the growth of the sport in the country, which will see USA Cricket co-host the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup along with Cricket West Indies (CWI). An exchange program for coaches and support staff will also be in place, with opportunities in Australian Men’s and Women’s Big Bash and Major League Cricket (MLC) or Minor League Cricket (MiLC) competitions.
New South Wales based players will also get the opportunity to play cricket in the USA as part of the partnership. With the MLC taking place in July and the T20 franchise leagues not much happening during that time, it creates a great window for NSW players to get themselves involved with the MLC event. The player draft for MLC will be taking place in March 2023 and CSNW representative team will be part of the draft process with Washington D.C. franchise management. CNSW CEO Lee Germon said “With the global cricket landscape currently undergoing significant transition, we view the United States as a market with immense growth potential. Our productive engagement with MLC in recent months makes it clear there is a firm alignment on a shared vision for the league and we look forward to progressing this relationship ahead of MLC’s launch season. Cricket NSW’s track record in high performance cricket and elite match operations is second to none and we believe we can bring a raft of experience to MLC and the Washington D.C. franchise in the coming years.”
