New Jersey Stallions (cricket)

The New Jersey Stallions are an American professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). The team is based in Somerset, New Jersey. It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket.[1] The team is co-owned by businessmen Venu Palaparthi and Ravikumar Suri.[1]

New Jersey Stallions
LeagueMinor League Cricket
ConferenceEastern Division (Atlantic Conference)
Personnel
CaptainJasdeep Singh
OwnerVenu Palaparthi
Chief executiveRavikumar Suri
Team information
CitySomerset, New Jersey
Colours  Purple, and   Red.
Founded2020; 4 years ago (2020)
Home groundHowe Athletic Complex, New Jersey

T20 kit

The team's home ground is Howe Athletics Complex in Somerset.[2] Jasdeep Singh took the helm as captain, with ex-South African player Justin Dill the vice-captain.[3]

Americans Saiteja Mukkamala and Stephen Wiig lead the batting and bowling leaderboards for the team with 367 runs and 27 wickets.[4][5]

Franchise history

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Background

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Talks of an American Twenty20 league started in November 2018 just before USA Cricket became the new governing body of cricket in the United States.[6][7] In May 2021, USA Cricket announced they had accepted a bid by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) for a US$1 billion investment covering the league and other investments benefitting the U.S. national teams.[8]

In an Annual General Meeting on February 21, 2020, it was announced that USA Cricket was planning to launch Major League Cricket in 2021 and Minor League Cricket that summer,[9] but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic[10] and due to the lack of high-quality cricket stadiums in the USA.[11] Major League Cricket was pushed to a summer-2023 launch[12] and Minor League Cricket was pushed back to July 31, 2021.[13]

USA Cricket CEO Iain Higgins also pointed out cities such as New York City, Houston and Los Angeles with a large cricket fanbase, and targeted them among others as launch cities for Minor League Cricket.[14]

Exhibition league

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In July 2020, the player registration for the Minor League Cricket exhibition league began.[15] On August 15, 2020, USA Cricket announced the teams participating in the exhibition league matches, also listing the owners for each team.[16] The draft for the exhibition league began on August 22, 2020,[17] with the New Jersey Stallions releasing their squad on August 24.[18] Nikhil Dutta was later named as captain for the New Jersey Stallions in the exhibition league.[19]

2021 season

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After the conclusion of the exhibition league, USA Cricket announced that they were planning to launch the inaugural season of Minor League Cricket in spring 2021.[20] Ahead of the official season, which was announced to kick off on July 31,[21] they announced Jasdeep Singh as captain and Justin Dill as vice-captain.[3]

In their first match of the season, they defeated the Morrisville Cardinals by 20 runs, and also defeated the Param Veers by 83 runs the following day.[22] They then went on to win against the Titans twice,[23][24] the Philadelphians,[25] the Hawks,[26] the Yorkers,[25] the Cavaliers twice,[24][27] and the Eagles twice.[23][28] They additionally lost against the Hawks,[26] the Yorkers,[23] the Galaxy,[29] and the Ft. Lauderdale Lions.[29] The Stallions topped the group, and qualified for the quarter-finals.[25]

In the quarterfinals, the Stallions swept the Cardinals 2–0 in a best-of-three series, thus qualifying them for the semifinals.[30] In the semifinals, the Stallions faced the Titans,[31] and defeated them by five wickets.[32] In the finals, the Silicon Valley Strikers beat the Stallions by six wickets in a thriller to take home the trophy.[33]

2022 season

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Ahead of the 2022 season, Major League Cricket announced that the draft for that season would take place on May 12.[34]

Current squad

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  • Players with international caps are listed in bold.
Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Year signed Notes
Batsmen
Hiren Patel   India (1975-09-16) 16 September 1975 (age 49) Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 2021 Overseas
Preet Shah   United States (1996-01-20) 20 January 1996 (age 28) Right-handed Right-arm medium 2021
Rovman Powell   Jamaica (1993-07-23) 23 July 1993 (age 31) Right-handed Right-arm medium fast 2021 Overseas
Sachin Mylavarapu   Singapore (1991-06-21) 21 June 1991 (age 33) Right-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 2021 Overseas
All-rounders
Anirudh Immanuel   United States (2004-09-23) 23 September 2004 (age 20) Right-handed Right-arm leg spin 2021
Daniel Williams   England (1981-12-10) 10 December 1981 (age 42) Right-handed Right-arm medium fast 2021 Overseas
Dominique Rikhi   United States (1993-03-20) 20 March 1993 (age 31) Right-handed Right-arm off break 2021
Jasdeep Singh   United States (1993-02-10) 10 February 1993 (age 31) Right-handed Right-arm medium 2021 Captain
Jon-Ross Campbell   Jamaica (1990-07-09) 9 July 1990 (age 34) Right-handed Right-arm off break 2021 Overseas
Justin Dill   South Africa (1994-12-10) 10 December 1994 (age 29) Right-handed Right-arm medium 2021 Overseas vice-captain
Karan Patel   India (1994-09-30) 30 September 1994 (age 30) Right-handed Right-arm off break 2021 Overseas
Laxman Nyamagouda   United States (1985-08-19) 19 August 1985 (age 39) Right-handed Right-arm medium 2021
Raymond Ramrattan   United States (2000-07-10) 10 July 2000 (age 24) Right-handed Right-arm leg break googly 2021
Ritvik Bansal   United States (1998-12-08) 8 December 1998 (age 25) Right-handed Right-arm medium 2021
Stephen Wiig   United States (1998-02-11) 11 February 1998 (age 26) Right-handed Right-arm medium fast 2021
Varun Mantha   United States (2004-06-29) 29 June 2004 (age 20) Left-handed Left-arm medium fast 2021
Viraj Desai   United States (1988-01-25) 25 January 1988 (age 36) Right-handed Right-arm medium 2021
Wicket-keepers
Saiteja Mukkamalla   United States (2004-04-09) 9 April 2004 (age 20) Right-handed Right-arm off break 2021

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Minor League Cricket Announces Franchise Owners and Draft Update". USA Cricket. August 15, 2020. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  2. ^ "Minor League Division Preview Series - Eastern". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. July 27, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Hays, Nate (August 18, 2020). "Minor League Cricket announces teams and owners list, draft on August 22, exhibition games tentative". Emerging Cricket. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  4. ^ "New Jersey Stallions - Batting". CricClubs.com. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  5. ^ "New Jersey Stallions - Bowling". CricClubs.com. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  6. ^ Penna, Peter Della (January 8, 2019). "USA formally approved to rejoin ICC as Associate Member under USA Cricket". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  7. ^ Penna, Peter Della (November 27, 2018). "USA plan to launch their T20 League in 2021". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  8. ^ "USA Cricket Chooses Partner to Fund and Develop U.S.-Based Professional T20 Cricket League". USA Cricket. May 23, 2019. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  9. ^ "USA Cricket Board Meeting February 2020". USA Cricket. February 27, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  10. ^ "USA Cricket re-evaluating Major League Cricket debut timing due to Covid-19 concerns". SportBusiness. August 2, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  11. ^ "American Major League Cricket tournament launch pushed to 2023 at Annual General Meeting". Inside the Games. May 24, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  12. ^ Penna, Peter Della (May 21, 2021). "USA's MLC T20 tournament pushed back to 2023 at AGM". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  13. ^ Penna, Peter Della (July 30, 2021). "Minor League Cricket: T20 league in USA kicks off with Sami Aslam, Corey Anderson in the mix". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  14. ^ Penna, Peter Della (February 27, 2020). "New York, Boston, Chicago, LA among 22 targeted launch cities for USA T20 competition". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  15. ^ "Minor League Cricket Announces Player Registration Opening". USA Cricket. July 7, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  16. ^ "Minor League Cricket Announces Franchise Owners and Draft Update". USA Cricket. August 15, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  17. ^ "Inaugural Minor League Cricket Draft to Take Place Today". USA Cricket. August 22, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  18. ^ "Minor League Cricket Draft results with 15 Squads Selected". USA Cricket. August 24, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  19. ^ "17 of the 24 Squads Confirmed as Inaugural Minor League Cricket Draft is completed". USA Cricket. September 2, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  20. ^ "USA Cricket Launches Foundational Plan". USA Cricket. October 15, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  21. ^ "American Cricket History to be Made on Minor League Cricket Opening Weekend". Major League Cricket. USA Cricket. July 29, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  22. ^ "The Monday All Rounder - Opening Weekend". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. August 2, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  23. ^ a b c "The Monday All Rounder - Week Two". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. August 9, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  24. ^ a b Patel, Smit (August 25, 2021). "Minor League Cricket Week 4: Unmukt Chand makes his presence felt". CricBuzz.com. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  25. ^ a b c "The Monday All Rounder - Week Eight". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. September 20, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  26. ^ a b "The Monday All Rounder - Week 3". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. August 16, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  27. ^ Patel, Smit (September 2, 2021). "Minor Cricket League Week 5: Ricardo Powell turns back the clock". CricBuzz. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  28. ^ "The Monday All Rounder - Week Seven". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. September 13, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  29. ^ a b "The Tuesday All Rounder - Week Six". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. September 7, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  30. ^ "The Monday All Rounder - Playoff Edition!". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. September 27, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  31. ^ Nielson, Tom (September 29, 2021). "New Jersey Stallions vs. Empire State Titans Preview". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  32. ^ "Morrisville to host minor league cricket championship". WCLY. October 1, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  33. ^ Patel, Smit (October 4, 2021). "Ice cool Deonarine takes Silicon Valley Strikers to maiden Minor League Cricket title". CricBuzz.com. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  34. ^ "Title and Presenting Partners Announced for 2022 Minor League Cricket Championship". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. May 5, 2022. Retrieved May 9, 2022.