Minor League Cricket Player Draft to be held on June 7
The draft would allow teams to select some of the strongest talent in American cricket, Minor League Cricket would be structured to ensure that teams were built primarily for domestic player development purposes.
Minor league cricket is returning for its third season this summer, with the Domestic Player Draft set to take place on Wednesday, June 7. Fans can follow the draft through the MLC Twitter account and a live show on MLC Network on YouTube, starting at 5 p.m. :30 p.m. ET.
The draft would allow teams to select some of the strongest talent in American cricket, Minor League Cricket would be structured to ensure that teams were built primarily for domestic player development purposes.
“The third season of Minor League Cricket promises to bring more great action to American cricket fans this summer,” said Zubin Surkari, Tournament Director, Minor League Cricket. “We are grateful to our title partner Sunoco for their continued support in promoting the competition. This season, Minor League Cricket is pleased to welcome Lakshmi, a leading South Asian food brand, as a partner to help them continue to build MiLC as America’s most comprehensive cricket competition.
The team roster structure is as follows:
The team roster shall consist of a minimum of 16 players and a maximum of 18 players.
Domestic players are drawn from local catchment areas for each team, with the draft divided into regional areas for selection.
Teams are required to include a number of developing youth players on their roster – at least two U21 players and one U19 player. Each playing XI must include at least two U21 players.
Teams can retain a maximum of three players from the 2022 season, meaning those players are not eligible for selection in the draft.
Rosters may also include professional players who bring top-level international experience to each team, helping to develop home-grown talent while raising performance levels in training and matches. These players are mainly selected outside the draft in the categories “Priority Domestic Player” and “Wildcard Player”.
| S.No | player category | Quantity |
| 1 | U19 players | 1 |
| For the 2023 season, players born after 31 August 2003. | ||
| 2 | U21 players | 2 |
| For the 2023 season, players born after 31 August 2001. | ||
| 3 | home player | 8 |
| Players from each team’s regional area were selected during the draft or retained from the 2022 roster. | ||
| 4 | priority domestic player | 3 |
| Players are selected prior to the draft by their designated team. | ||
| 5 | wildcard player | 2 |
| Any player from anywhere accepted for selection. At least one wildcard must be a domestic player. | ||
| 6 | optional | 2 |
| free agent player | ||
| Domestic players available for selection after the player draft. | ||
| 7 | 2023 Concept | up to 3 |
| retained players | ||
| Each team may retain a maximum of three players from its 2022 roster, as long as that player resides in that team’s respective draft zone. |
- The draft is divided into regional regions with a randomly generated draft order for the teams in each region.
- The draft will follow a “snake” format (for each round of the player draft after the first round, the selection order of the immediately preceding round is reversed).
- Teams will get two minutes to make their selections.
- The draft continues until each team meets the above minimum roster composition requirements.
