Texas: All the components for a current Twenty20 league were present when the Major League Cricket, the most serious attempt to launch a domestic competition in the United States, began in Texas.

The Texas Super Kings, the winning home team, were represented by fans wearing yellow shirts at the purpose-built cricket stadium on Thursday. The venue is only a 15-minute drive from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

The Los Angeles Knight Riders were bowled out for 112 runs after the Super Kings reached 181 for six and then won by 69 runs.

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As soon as play started and the audience started applauding the home team's powerful hitting, all doubts that cricket in the US might not be authentic disappeared.

Formerly home to the now-defunct Texas Airhogs minor league baseball team, the stadium has undergone a $20 million transformation by MLC to accommodate cricket.

It would have been difficult for spectators of the TV broadcast to distinguish between the MLC and the various T20 competitions that have popped up all over the world.

The level of play was obviously professional, and the field and wicket looked up to par with foreign players competing with domestic talent from the US national squad.

That was in strong contrast to numerous earlier, unsuccessful attempts to "break the American market" with one-off events in inappropriate settings. It also stood in stark contrast to much of the domestic cricket that was played for years on matting tracks.

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— Major League Cricket (@MLCricket) July 14, 2023

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Rusty Theron, a South African bowler for Texas, was surprised by how well the first game went.

“I am actually a little bit emotional, to be honest. This is such a grand event. There was an unbelievable atmosphere and I want to thank each and every individual who has come out here,” he said.

David Miller, a batter with the Super Kings, was impressed as well. Miller was named Player of the Match for his hard-hitting 61 from 42 balls, which included four sixes.

“It’s fantastic to see such a great turnout and the facilities have been fantastic. I think there have been a few guys, kind of questioned around what it was going to be like but it shot the lights out here,” said the South African, one of a number of players with a background in the world’s top Twenty20 competition, the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Four IPL teams, including the Mumbai Indians, whose New York squad kicked off play on Friday, support the MLC.

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Among the international players chosen by the six nations were Australia's Aaron Finch, West Indies spinner Sunil Narine, South African pace bowler Kagiso Rabada, and England's opening batsman Jason Roy.

Before the playoffs and the final trip back to Texas, more games will be played in Morrisville, North Carolina.

Along with the participation of IPL teams, Australia's Cricket Victoria and Cricket New South Wales both have high-performance relationships with the San Francisco Unicorns and the Washington Freedom, respectively.

The league has broadcast agreements with Viacom18 in India as well as with streaming provider Willow TV, whose founders are also MLC investors.

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