Melbourne: Australia's ODI and Test captain, Pat Cummins, has signed a four-year contract with the US-based franchise San Francisco Unicorns, while all-rounder Marcus Stoinis is set to join Texas Super Kings, becoming the latest Aussies to be part of the USA's T20 league tournament, Major League Cricket (MLC) 2024.
The second season of MLC, which has acquired List A status from the global governing body International Cricket Council, will commence from July 6 to 29, right after the T20 World Cup 2024, which will be played across three cities in USA -- Dallas, New York and Texas.
"An Aussie legend joins the herd San Francisco Unicorns sign Australian Test and ODI captain, Pat Cummins for Season II of Cognizant Major League Cricket! Welcome to the league Pat," MLC wrote in X post. "MLC is developing at a rapid rate, and the US market potential is huge for cricket", Cummins said in a video post on the franchise's X handle. "
Cummins will have explosive Aussie batter Jake Fraser McGurk as his teammate at the franchise. On the other hand, Stoinis, who had the best Indian Premier League (IPL) season with bat for Lucknow Super Giants, is set to don the yellow for the Texas Super Kings, a sister franchise of the Chennai Super Kings.
The move came after a month after the 34-year-old's blistering century took the game away from Ruturaj Gaikwad-led CSK at their home ground - MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk) in Chennai single-handedly. The other big names will feature are his compatriot and fellow WACA player Aaron Hardie, Daryl Mitchell, South African T20 skipper Aiden Markram and Naveen Ul Haq at the Texas Super Kings.
With Australia scheduled to tour the West Indies for a full series in June-July next year, it remains to be seen if both players remain available for the T20 league.
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