Finch and De Kock among first overseas players in Major League Cricket

By Sports Desk March 20, 2023

Former Australia captain Aaron Finch and ex-South Africa skipper Quinton de Kock are among the first overseas names for Major League Cricket's inaugural season.

The pair were among six non-domestic players assigned during Sunday's draft at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Australia duo Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Marsh, along with South Africa's Anrich Nortje and Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga were also included as overseas participants.

Major League Cricket – the first professional T20 league in the United States – will consist of six franchises in its debut year, as cricket looks to build a foothold in the country.

The ICC are hopeful the sport will be included in the 2028 Olympic Games, to be held in Los Angeles, where one of the half-dozen teams will be based.

Finch, who retired from T20Is in February, will captain San Francisco Unicorns, where he will be joined by compatriot Stoinis and England's Liam Plunkett, who qualifies as a domestic player through his American wife.

The pace bowler, who was a member of the successful England team from the 2019 Cricket World Cup, previously played in Minor League Cricket, the developmental league for MLC.

De Kock is set to play for Seattle Orcas alongside Marsh, while Nortje and Hasaranga will turn out for Washington Freedom.

The three remaining sides – Texas Super Kings, Los Angeles Knight Riders and MI New York – are yet to add an overseas player, though each drafted nine US-based players on Sunday.

The tournament will take place over three weeks at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas between July 13 and 30.

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