SAN FRANCISCO, CA (March 23, 2022) – Major League Cricket (MLC) announced today it will hold an elite training camp and series of “Houston Challenge” matches at the MLC National Cricket Center at Prairie View Cricket Complex (PVCC) near Houston, TX from March 26 to April 10, 2022. The training camp and series of matches will feature three teams of professional cricketers from Major League Cricket’s pool of players. MLC has also invited USA Cricket (USAC) to send a representative squad to participate in the series of matches from April 4 to 10 and will confirm the match schedule pending confirmation from USAC.
The Houston Challenge series games will be available to stream for free on the Minor League Cricket YouTube channel and the full schedule of matches and links to watch will be posted at www.MajorLeagueCricket.com.
The MLC roster has been divided into squads representing the central, eastern and western regions from the more than three dozen professional cricketers now residing in the United States and helping to raise the standard of the sport across the country. MLC players participate in Minor League Cricket and coach or mentor young domestic players in their home cities across the United States.
The Houston Challenge will consist of both 50-over and T20 matches, taking place from Tuesday, April 5 to Sunday, April 10. MLC-contracted players expected to participate include former New Zealand international Corey Anderson, 2012 U-19 Indian World Cup winners Unmukt Chand and Smit Patel, 2021 Minor League Cricket MVP Hammad Azam, former South African international Dane Piedt, Pakistan batter Sami Aslam and Sri Lankan Shehan Jayasuriya. The full list of players from MLC and their team assignments is provided below.
| MLC East | MLC Central | MLC West |
| Cody Chetty | Ehsan Adil | Sami Aslam |
| Justin Dill | Corey Anderson | Hammad Azam |
| Corne Dry | Amila Aponso | Unmukt Chand |
| Sivakumar Duvvarapu | Andries Gous | Shehan Jayasuriya |
| Saideep Ganesh | Sujith Gowda | Ruchir Joshi |
| Aditya Gupta | Marty Kain | Sanjay Krishnamurthi |
| Milind Kumar | Nitish Kumar | Carmi Le Roux |
| Saiteja Mukkumalla | Willem Ludick | Lahiru Milantha |
| Smit Patel | Rameez Raja | Harmeet Singh |
| Dane Piedt | Calvin Savage | Pranay Suri |
| Obus Pienaar | Zia Shahzad | Shadley van Schalkwyk |
| Bhaskar Yadram | Ali Sheikh | David White |
| Coach: Liam Plunkett | Coach: Burt Cockley | Coach: TBA |
The camp and matches will provide elite, high-level competition for players ahead of a packed 2022 schedule that includes the return of Minor League Cricket in June. The elite training camp and Challenge series will sandwich one of the premier tournaments in American domestic club cricket, the Houston Open, which runs from March 30 to April 3 also at PVCC.
Sixteen teams from around the country will take part in the annual T20 tournament, playing for a $60,000 first-place prize featuring some of the strongest domestic and emerging talent nationwide. MLC players will also participate in this tournament, adding to the level of competition. Matches in the Houston Open will be streamed on Willow TV and Minor League Cricket’s YouTube channels.
PVCC Spring Schedule:
• March 26 – 28 | MLC Training Camp
• March 30 – April 3 | Houston Open
• April 4 – 10 | Houston Challenge