Australia's Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins will play in the second season of Major League Cricket, the Cricketer reported.
The 31-year-old is have signed four-year contract for the San Francisco Unicorns franchise, who share a strategic relationship with Victoria's first-class set-up in Australia.
The franchise made announcement on the social platforms.
Five days after the T20 World Cup concludes, Cummins will join his new squad in time for the MLC competition.
This stint in the MLC will mark the culmination of a demanding yet successful season for Cummins. It all started in February with Australia's tour of New Zealand, and in his first season as captain, he most recently led SRH to the IPL 2024 final.
Despite Hyderabad's defeat at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the summit match, Cummins' leadership qualities are evident. Along with winning the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) and ODI World Cup, he helped the national side retain the Ashes in England with a 2-2 draw the previous year.
His signing heightened the tension between rival New South Wales and Victoria.
In February, Ricky Ponting was unveiled as the new head coach of Washington Freedom.
Freedom are linked to Cricket NSW, which runs the team in partnership with Indian-American entrepreneur Sanjay Govil.
The two franchises are due to play each other on Monday, July 22nd in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Other top Australian stars to have joined the tournament include Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Spencer Johnson, Steve Smith and Jake Fraser-McGurk.
It must be noted the tournament is scheduled to be held in the USA’s Texas and North Carolina from 5th to 28th July.
MI New York are the defending champions. They defeated Seattle Orcas in the MLC 2023 final to claim the first Major League Cricket title.
The MLC 2024 season opener will see a rematch of last year’s final as MI New York take on Seattle Orcas once again at Church Street Park in North Carolina.
Later on the same day, Texas Super Kings will host the LA Knight Riders at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas.
The six teams will compete in 21 matches in a round-robin league format. The initial 15 matches will be split between the two venues - Church Street Park and Grand Prairie Stadium. However, the final six group matches and the knockout fixtures will all be held at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas.
The teams will face each other once in the league phase, after which the top four sides will progress to the playoffs. The MLC 2024 final will take place at the Grand Prairie Stadium on 29th July.
Four of the six MLC teams are owned by franchises of the Indian Premier League (IPL). These include MI New York (Mumbai Indians), Texas Super Kings (Chennai Super Kings), LA Knight Riders (Kolkata Knight Riders), and the Seattle Orcas (Delhi Capitals). The other two teams are San Francisco Unicorns and Washington Freedom.
- Pat Cummins
