The Golden State Grizzlies are an American professional Twenty20 cricket team based in the Sacramento metropolitan area that competes in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket.[1] The franchise is owned by ACE (American Cricket Enterprises).[2]
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.[5][6] 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.[7]
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,[8] but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic[9] and due to the lack of high-quality cricket stadiums in the USA.[10] Major League Cricket was pushed to a summer-2023 launch[11] and Minor League Cricket was pushed back to July 31, 2021.[12]
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.[13]
Exhibition league
In July 2020, the player registration for the Minor League Cricket exhibition league began.[14] On August 15, 2020, USA Cricket announced the teams participating in the exhibition league matches, also listing the owners for each team.[15] The draft for the exhibition league began on August 22, 2020,[16] with the Golden State Grizzlies releasing their squad on August 24.[17]Saurabh Netravalkar was later named as captain for the Golden State Grizzlies for the exhibition league.[17]
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.[18] Ahead of the official season, which was announced to kick off on July 31,[19] the Grizzlies announced Sami Aslam as captain with Hammad Azam helming vice-captain duties.[4]
Throughout the group stage, the Grizzlies lost to the Strikers twice, and won twice against the Blazers, the Blasters, the Lashings, the Surf Riders, and the Thunderbolts.[20] The Grizzlies additionally won against the Chicago Blasters and the Americans once.[21][a] The Grizzlies topped the group, thus qualifying for the play-offs.[22]
In the quarterfinals, the Grizzlies bested the Houston Hurricanes in a best-of-three game series 2-0.[23] The Grizzlies headed to the semi-finals to face eventual winners, the Silicon Valley Strikers.[24] The Grizzlies lost by 33 runs against the Strikers as they placed 3rd in the tournament.[25]
