Hollywood Master Blasters

Last updated

Hollywood Master Blasters
Hollywood Master Blasters Logo.jpg
League Minor League Cricket
ConferenceWestern Division (Pacific Conference)
Personnel
Captain Nisarg Patel
OwnerJanak Patel
Team information
City Los Angeles, California
Colours  Dark Blue, and   Yellow.
Founded2020;4 years ago (2020)
Dissolved2023
Home ground Leo Magnus Cricket Complex
Capacity5,000
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Kit body.png
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T20 kit

The Hollywood Master Blasters was an American professional Twenty20 cricket franchise that competed in Minor League Cricket (MiLC) till the 2022 season. The team was based in Los Angeles, California. It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket. [1] The franchise is owned by Janak Patel. [1]

Contents

The team's home ground was the Leo Magnus Cricket Complex, located in Van Nuys, California. [2] American veteran Nisarg Patel helms captaincy duties, with South African cricketer Cody Chetty standing by as vice-captain. [3]

Cody Chetty and Khalid Khan top the batting and bowling leaderboards with 470 runs and 13 wickets respectively. [4] [5]

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. [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

In July 2020, the player registration [15] 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. [1] The draft for the exhibition league began on August 22, 2020, [17] with the Hollywood Master Blasters releasing their squad on August 24. [18] Amitoze Singh was later named as captain for the Hollywood Master Blasters for the exhibition league. [18] However, the Blasters didn't play a single game due to COVID-19 restrictions. [19]

2021 season

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 Lashings announced Nisarg Patel as captain with Cody Chetty helming vice-captain duties. [3]

In their first match of the season, the Blasters lost by 5 wickets to the Surf Riders. [22] The Blasters only won twice throughout the league, once against the Strikers, [23] and once against the Lashings. [24] They lost against the Grizzlies twice, [25] [23] the Strikers, [25] the Thunderbolts twice, [26] the Blazers twice, [23] the Surf Riders, [27] the Lashings, [24] the Hurricanes, the Athletics, and the Mustangs. [28] The Blasters finished off with 2 wins and 13 losses, finishing bottom of the table in their group, thus missing the play-offs.

2022 season

Ahead of the 2022 season, Major League Cricket announced that the draft for that season would take place on May 12. This was also the final season for the Franchise. [29]

Current squad

NameNationalityBirth dateBatting styleBowling styleYear signedNotes
Batsmen
Aaroh RawatFlag of the United States.svg  United States 17 April 1996 (age 28)Right-handedRight-arm fast medium 2021
Basanta Regmi Flag of Nepal.svg    Nepal 6 April 1986 (age 38)Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 2021Overseas
Cody Chetty Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 28 June 1991 (age 33)Right-handedRight-arm off break 2021Overseas
Kanishka Chaugai Flag of the United States.svg  United States 24 January 1986 (age 38)Right-handedRight-arm medium 2021
Prithu Baskota Flag of Nepal.svg    Nepal 5 July 1992 (age 32)Right-handedRight-arm off break 2021Overseas
Pukar PatelFlag of the United States.svg  United States 15 July 1992 (age 32)Right-handedRight-arm fast medium 2021
Shehan Fernando Flag of Sri Lanka.svg  Sri Lanka 14 April 1993 (age 31)Right-handedRight-arm off break 2021Overseas
All-rounders
Ajay ImmadiFlag of the United States.svg  United States 10 March 1990 (age 34)Right-handedRight-arm off break 2021
Khalid Khan Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong 7 February 1971 (age 53)Right-handedRight-arm medium fast 2021Overseas
Nisarg Patel Flag of the United States.svg  United States 20 April 1988 (age 36)Right-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 2021
Dhyan RanatungaFlag of Sri Lanka.svg  Sri Lanka 1 June 1989 (age 35)Right-handedLeft-arm medium fast 2021Overseas
Jignesh PatelFlag of India.svg  India 3 January 1987 (age 37)Right-handedLeft-arm medium 2021Overseas
Karan ViradiyaFlag of India.svg  India 17 October 1994 (age 29)Right-handedRight-arm off break 2021Overseas
Venukalyan MadireddyFlag of the United States.svg  United States 25 January 1983 (age 41)Right-handedRight-arm fast 2021
Bowlers
Amitoze Singh Flag of India.svg  India 14 February 1989 (age 35)Right-handedRight-arm medium 2021Overseas
Wicket-keepers
Samarth JaydevFlag of the United States.svg  United States 3 June 1991 (age 33)Right-handedRight-arm leg break 2021

See also

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References

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  2. ↑ "Minor League Division Preview Series – Western". Minor League Cricket . Major League Cricket. August 1, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Wilson, Jonhenry (June 7, 2021). "Corne Dry joins Atlanta Fire, Cody Chetty to play for Hollywood Master Blasters". Club Cricket SA Info. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Hollywood Master Blasters - Batting". CricClubs.com. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Hollywood Master Blasters - Bowling". CricClubs.com. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
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  7. ↑ Penna, Peter Della (November 27, 2018). "USA plan to launch their T20 League in 2021". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  8. ↑ "USA Cricket Chooses Partner to Fund and Develop U.S.-Based Professional T20 Cricket League". USA Cricket . May 23, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  9. ↑ "USA Cricket Board Meeting February 2020". USA Cricket . February 27, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  10. ↑ "USA Cricket re-evaluating Major League Cricket debut timing due to Covid-19 concerns". SportBusiness. August 2, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
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  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 16, 2022.
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  15. ↑ "About Us - Crickex". crickex1.in. May 30, 2022. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
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  18. 1 2 "Minor League Cricket Draft results with 15 Squads Selected". USA Cricket . August 24, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
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  23. 1 2 3 "The Monday All Rounder - Week Five". Minor League Cricket . Major League Cricket. August 30, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
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  25. 1 2 "The Monday All Rounder - Week Two". Minor League Cricket . Major League Cricket. August 9, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
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