The 2026 Major League Cricket (also known as MLC 2026, or for sponsorship reasons as 2026 Cognizant Major League Cricket) was the fourth season of Major League Cricket, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league established in 2019 by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) in the United States. The tournament was played from June 18 to July 18, 2026.
MI New York were the defending champions and were beaten in the playoffs by Washington Freedom, who went on to reach the final. The Los Angeles Knight Riders won their first Major League Cricket title, defeating Washington Freedom by 1 run in the final, with Sunil Narine named both player of the match and player of the tournament for the 2026 season.
Background American Cricket Enterprises confirmed the fourth season ran from June 18 to July 18, 2026. Season 3 set new records for ticket sales (up 53% year-on-year), broadcast reach (global carriage to 90+ countries), and digital engagement, with 84% of ticket purchasers being first-time buyers at MLC games.
The full schedule for the fourth season was announced on March 20, 2026. The season again featured a double round-robin league format of 30 matches, followed by four playoff matches, for a total of 34 matches — matching the 2025 season's total.
A new venue, the Knight Riders Cricket Field at Fairplex in Pomona, California, was added to the tournament for the first time, replacing Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida. The Oakland Coliseum hosted the championship final on July 18, 2026.
Teams All six teams from the previous season took part this season.
+Teams in the 2026 Major League CricketFranchiseCaptainJason Holder Dwayne BravoMI New YorkNicholas PooranMark BoucherSan Francisco UnicornsMatthew ShortCameron WhiteSeattle OrcasMarcus StoinisAdam VogesTexas Super KingsFaf du PlessisStephen FlemingWashington FreedomSteve SmithRicky Ponting
Squads Each team was allowed to select their domestic players.
Los Angeles Knight RidersMI New YorkSan Francisco UnicornsSeattle OrcasTexas Super KingsWashington Freedom Jason Holder (c) Alex Hales Andre Fletcher Rovman Powell Colin Munro Andre Russell Sunil Narine Lloyd Pope Shadley van Schalkwyk Unmukt Chand Ali Khan Saif Badar Kartikh Gatepalli Matthew Tromp Carmi le Roux Jahmar Hamilton Nitish Kumar Kristopher Ramsaran Nicholas Pooran (c) Kieron Pollard Quinton de Kock Ryan Rickelton Shakib Al Hasan Trent Boult Corbin Bosch Romario Shepherd Tristan Luus Allah Ghazanfar Corey Anderson Monank Patel Tajinder Singh Ehsan Adil Nosthush Kenjige Agni Chopra Rushil Ugarkar Kunwarjeet Singh Sunny Patel Faisal Ahmadzai Matthew Short (c) Finn Allen Cooper Connolly Aaron Hardie Lhuan-dre Pretorius Xavier Bartlett Haris Rauf Oliver Peake Ravichandran Ashwin Hassan Khan Brody Couch Sanjay Krishnamurthi Hammad Azam Juanoy Drysdale Aakarshit Gomel Zia Ul-Haq Mohammad Ilyas Anirudh Immanuel Saideep Ganesh Marcus Stoinis (c) Tim Seifert Shimron Hetmyer Dasun Shanaka Matthew Breetzke Tim Robinson Lungi Ngidi Ottniel Baartman Tanveer Sangha Jason Behrendorff Harmeet Singh Ayan Desai Rahul Jariwala Shayan Jahangir Jessy Singh Ali Sheikh Cameron Gannon Raymon Reifer Sujit Nayak Shehan Jayasuriya Sharad Lumba Faf du Plessis (c) Donovan Ferreira Wiaan Mulder Rilee Rossouw Adam Milne Nandre Burger Keshav Maharaj Akeal Hosein Hardus Viljoen Shubham Ranjane Joshua Tromp Milind Kumar Saiteja Mukkamalla Mohammad Mohsin Calvin Savage Smit Patel Amshi de Silva Abhimanyu Lamba Steve Smith (c) Glenn Maxwell Mitchell Owen Lockie Ferguson Marco Jansen Jack Edwards Rachin Ravindra Mark Chapman Ben Dwarshuis Andries Gous Saurabh Netravalkar Obus Pienaar Nikhil Chaudhary Mukhtar Ahmed Ian Holland Lahiru Milantha Amila Aponso Abhishek Paradkar Yasir Mohammad Asif Mehmood
Venues Matches were held at three venues: Grand Prairie's Grand Prairie Stadium, Oakland's Oakland Coliseum, and Pomona's Knight Riders Cricket Ground at Fairplex. This was the first tournament in which games were held at the Knight Riders Cricket Ground at Fairplex; the Oakland Coliseum also hosted the playoff matches and the championship final for the first time.
Grand Prairie Oakland Pomona Grand Prairie Stadium Oakland Coliseum Knight Riders Cricket Ground Capacity: 7,200 Capacity: 12,000 Capacity: 5,000 Matches: 15 Matches: 12 Matches: 7
Points table
Match summary
League stage
Round 1 (Grand Prairie)
Round 2 (Oakland)
Round 3 (Pomona)
Round 4 (Grand Prairie)
Play-offs
Qualifier
Eliminator
Challenger
Final
Season statistics +Most runsRunsPlayerTeam 547 Andries Gous Washington Freedom 13 132 45.58 165.25 513 Matthew Short San Francisco Unicorns 12 121* 64.12 146.15 465 Lhuan-dre Pretorius San Francisco Unicorns 12 102* 46.50 176.13 438 Colin Munro Los Angeles Knight Riders 11 64* 48.66 126.58 427 Mitchell Owen Washington Freedom 13 155 32.84 197.68 Source: ESPNcricinfo
+Most wicketsPlayerTeam 18 Sunil Narine Los Angeles Knight Riders 11 43.0 3/13 4.74 Ottniel Baartman Seattle Orcas 9 33.0 4/33 7.48 Andre Russell Los Angeles Knight Riders 11 38.3 4/35 9.2717 Matthew Short San Francisco Unicorns 10 27.0 4/17 7.1416 5 players Source: ESPNcricinfo
Awards On July 20, 2026, a list of end of season awards was announced.
+Awards in the 2026 Major League CricketNameTeamAwardSunil NarineLos Angeles Knight RidersMost Valuable PlayerAndries GousWashington FreedomLeading run scorerSunil NarineLos Angeles Knight RidersLeading wicket takerAndries GousWashington FreedomDomestic Player of the SeriesMatthew TrompLos Angeles Knight Riders U23 player of the tournament
Broadcasting +Broadcasters for the tournamentCountry/Sub-regionRights holder(s)United States & Canada WillowCaribbeanESPNUnited KingdomSky SportsMiddle East & North AfricaCricbuzzSub-Saharan AfricaESPNIndiaStar Sports, JioHotstarAustraliaSevenNew ZealandSky NZRest of world MLC Network YouTube
References
External links
MLC 2026 on ESPN