Golden State Grizzlies

The Golden State Grizzlies are an American professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that compete in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). The team is based in Sacramento, California. 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]

Golden State Grizzlies
LeagueMinor League Cricket
ConferenceWestern Division (Pacific Conference)
Personnel
CaptainSami Aslam
OwnerACE
Team information
CitySacramento, California
Colours  Red, and   Gold.
Founded2020 (2020)
Home groundArroyo Park
History
Notable players
Official websitegoldenstategrizzlies.com

T20 kit

The team's home ground is Arroyo Park, located in Davis, California.[3] Sami Aslam currently helms captaincy duties, with Hammad Azam helming vice-captain duties.[4]

Captain Sami Aslam and international American player Vatsal Vaghela leads the batting and bowling leaderboards with 500 runs and 29 wickets.[5][6]

Franchise history

Background

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.[7][8] 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.[9]

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,[10] but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic[11] and due to the lack of high-quality cricket stadiums in the USA.[12] Major League Cricket was pushed to a summer-2023 launch[13] and Minor League Cricket was pushed back to July 31, 2021.[14]

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.[15]

Exhibition league

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

2021 season
See also: 2021 Minor League Cricket season § Pacific Conference

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] 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.[22] The Grizzlies additionally won against the Chicago Blasters and the Americans once.[23][lower-alpha 1] The Grizzlies topped the group, thus qualifying for the play-offs.[24]

In the quarterfinals, the Grizzlies bested the Houston Hurricanes in a best-of-three game series 2-0.[25] The Grizzlies headed to the semi-finals to face eventual winners, the Silicon Valley Strikers.[26] The Grizzlies lost by 33 runs against the Strikers as they placed 3rd in the tournament.[27]

Current squad
  • Players with international caps are listed in bold.
  •  *  denotes a player who is currently unavailable for selection.
  •  *  denotes a player who is unavailable for rest of the season
Name Nat. Birth date Batting style Bowling style Signed year Notes
Batsmen
Aditya Srinivas (1991-08-19) 19 August 1991Right-handedRight-arm fast medium2021
Hammad Azam (1991-03-16) 16 March 1991Right-handedRight-arm medium2021Overseas
Zia Shahzad (1996-06-18) 18 June 1996Right-handedRight-arm leg break googly2021Overseas
All-rounders
Abbas Jafri (1992-12-15) 15 December 1992Right-handedRight-arm off break2021
Abheyender Singh (1987-09-21) 21 September 1987Left-handedSlow left-arm orthodox bowling2021
Asad Khan (1997-12-06) 6 December 1997Right-handedRight-arm off break2021Overseas
Bhavesh Jain (1982-06-22) 22 June 1982Left-handedLeft-arm medium2021Overseas
Karan Chandel (1991-01-27) 27 January 1991Right-handedRight-arm medium fast2021
Junaid Malik (1990-04-25) 25 April 1990Left-handedRight-arm off break2021Overseas
Mohit Nataraj (1985-05-28) 28 May 1985Right-handedRight-arm off break2021
Neeraj Goel (1991-03-17) 17 March 1991Right-handedRight-arm fast medium2021
Sami Aslam (1995-12-12) 12 December 1995Left-handedRight-arm medium2021Overseas captain
Samson Bhatti (1990-06-29) 29 June 1990Right-handedRight-arm fast medium2021
Sheryar Khan (1986-04-11) 11 April 1986Right-handedLeft-arm medium2021Overseas
Shivam Mishra (1992-08-30) 30 August 1992Right-handedRight-arm medium fast2021Overseas
Vatsal Vaghela (2002-03-20) 20 March 2002Left-handedSlow left-arm orthodox bowling2021
Wicket-keepers
Saideep Ganesh (1997-05-16) 16 May 1997Right-handedRight-arm off break2021

Statistics

Most runs
Nat. Player Span Matches Innings Runs Average HS 100 50
Sami Aslam 2021–present 17 17 500 35.71 86 0 4
Hammad Azam 2021–present 17 14 411 51.38 69 0 3
Zia Shahzad 2021–present 17 17 381 25.40 74 0 3
Karan Chandel 2021-present 14 14 272 20.92 51 0 1
Mohit Nataraj 2021–present 15 10 215 30.71 48 0 0

Source: CricClubs, Last updated: 6 March 2022

Most wickets
Nat. Player Span Matches Wickets Avg BBI Econ SR 4w 5w
Vatsal Vaghela 2021–present 17 29 11.41 4/13 5.49 12.5 1 0
Zia Shahzad 2021–present 17 25 16.32 4/21 6.46 15.2 1 0
Neeraj Goel 2021–present 17 23 15.65 4/15 5.81 16.2 3 0
Abheyender Singh 2021-present 12 13 14.62 5/17 7.04 12.5 1 1
Hammad Azam 2021–present 17 12 25.25 3/9 5.83 26.0 0 0

Source: CricClubs, Last updated: 13 April 2022

See also

Notes
  1. This reference covers everything up to Week 7 of Minor League Cricket. Please do not replace this reference.

References
  1. "Minor League Cricket Announces Franchise Owners and Draft Owners". USA Cricket. August 15, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  2. Hays, Nate (August 18, 2020). "Minor League Cricket announces teams and owners list, draft on August 22, exhibition games tentative". Emerging Cricket. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  3. "Minor League Division Preview Series - Eastern". Minor League Cricket. Major League Cricket. July 27, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  4. "Sami Aslam announces 'new beginning' in California". The News International. December 4, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  5. "New Jersey Stallions - Batting". CricClubs.com. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  6. "New Jersey Stallions - Bowling". CricClubs.com. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  7. Penna, Peter Della (January 8, 2019). "USA formally approved to rejoin ICC as Associate Member under USA Cricket". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  8. Penna, Peter Della (November 27, 2018). "USA plan to launch their T20 League in 2021". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  9. "USA Cricket Chooses Partner to Fund and Develop U.S.-Based Professional T20 Cricket League". USA Cricket. May 23, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  10. "USA Cricket Board Meeting February 2020". USA Cricket. February 27, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  11. "USA Cricket re-evaluating Major League Cricket debut timing due to Covid-19 concerns". SportBusiness. August 2, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  12. "American Major League Cricket tournament launch pushed to 2023 at Annual General Meeting". Inside the Games. May 24, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  13. Penna, Peter Della (May 21, 2021). "USA's MLC T20 tournament pushed back to 2023 at AGM". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  14. 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 April 10, 2022.
  15. Penna, Peter Della (February 27, 2020). "New York, Boston, Chicago, LA among 22 targeted launch cities for USA T20 competition". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  16. "Minor League Cricket Announces Player Registration Opening". USA Cricket. July 7, 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  17. "Minor League Cricket Announces Franchise Owners and Draft Update". USA Cricket. August 15, 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  18. "Inaugural Minor League Cricket Draft to Take Place Today". USA Cricket. August 22, 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  19. "Minor League Cricket Draft results with 15 Squads Selected". USA Cricket. August 24, 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  20. "USA Cricket Launches Foundational Plan". USA Cricket. October 15, 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  21. "American Cricket History to be Made on Minor League Cricket Opening Weekend". Major League Cricket. USA Cricket. July 29, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  22. Patel, Smit (September 23, 2021). "Minor League Cricket Week 8: Rovman Powell hits 38-ball 71". CricBuzz. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  23. Larkin, Zoe (September 15, 2021). "Cricket comes to Sacramento: Startup league brings professional talent and big dreams". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  24. Dunmore, Tom (September 20, 2021). "Teams and Venues Set for Inaugural Minor League Cricket Playoffs". Major League Cricket. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  25. Bisesi, Ryan (September 25, 2021). "Morrisville going crazy for cricket ahead of national tournament". WRAL-TV. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  26. Patel, Smit (October 1, 2021). "Can Unmukt inspire Silicon Valley Strikers to clinch Minor League Cricket title?". CricBuzz. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  27. Friedlander, Brett (February 3, 2022). "Morrisville cricket venue to get significant upgrades". North State Journal. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
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