A NEW CRICKET LEAGUE IS UNDERWAY IN THE BUSY US SPORTS MARKET

With a salary cap that's competitive with similar T20 tournaments around the world, Major League Cricket organizers secured most of the better-known players they pursued, including Texas Super Kings captain...

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“ Deep in the Heart of Texas” blared from the speakers during a timeout a few days into the debut of a US professional cricket league near Dallas. Fans waved the flags of the Texas Super Kings and the LA Knight Riders, with some wearing the jerseys of their favorite countries or clubs overseas. A couple had ballcaps of two of the biggest brands in the United States — the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. This unusual confluence comes during Major League Cricket's debut, hoping to find a foothold for one of the world's most popular sports in a sports-mad country that knows little about the “other” bat-and-ball game. Because of a willing partner happy to see a fading minor league baseball stadium turned into one of the country's few legitimate cricket pitches, the league started in Texas, famous for the Friday night lights of high school football. The 7,000-seat stadium is in Grand Prairie, not far from where the Cowboys —America's Team, remember — play in front of 90,000plus eight or nine times every fall under a retractable roof with a giant video board hanging over the field.