A few short weeks after it started, the first season of the great cricket experiment in Grand Prairie—and, by extension, America—has concluded with Mumbai Indians New York defeating the Seattle Orcas to become the inaugural Major League Cricket champions.
The early verdict? Success! Top-notch talent flew in from across the globe to compete, and the hometown Texas Super Kings drew sellout crowds. If you were there, you likely saw what those of us at D did: this is a sporting experience different than anything we’re used to in these parts. A great one. (With pretty damn good stadium food, too!)
That isn’t to say obstacles don’t remain; I outlined many of them in my feature from our July issue. MLC will need to keep scaling up just as infrastructure on the grassroots level must become more robust. Five other cities must construct their own equivalent to Grand Prairie Stadium. It must convince one-off fans to become casuals, and casuals to become diehards. There is plenty of work to be done.
But that’s all in the future. For now, take one last look at the atmosphere that was in Sunday’s MLC Final, courtesy of photographer Bret Redman.
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