San Francisco Unicorns

San Francisco Unicorns

Leagues Played
Major League Cricket 5
Links
Website TikTok Wikipedia

Results

Major League Cricket 07/24 21:00 - San Francisco Unicorns v Texas Super Kings 171/8(20)-172/7(19.1)
Major League Cricket 07/22 21:00 - Washington Freedom v San Francisco Unicorns 133/8(20)-103/10(19.5)
Major League Cricket 07/19 00:30 - Los Angeles Knight Riders v San Francisco Unicorns 191/5(20)-212/7(20)
Major League Cricket 07/16 00:30 - San Francisco Unicorns v Seattle Orcas 142/10(17.5)-177/4(20)
Major League Cricket 07/14 20:30 - MI New York v San Francisco Unicorns 193/5(20)-215/5(20)

The San Francisco Unicorns are an American franchise cricket team, planned to be based in San Francisco, California, that competes in Major League Cricket (MLC). In 2023, it was announced as one of the six teams to participate in the league's inaugural season. The team is owned by Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, co-founders of Cambrian ventures.

Plans are underway to build a stadium at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. The stadium is expected to have a capacity of 15,000 people. During the first MLC season the team will play at Grand Prairie stadium in Texas. In March 2023, Cricket Victoria announced their partnership with the Unicorns for the opening season.

History

Background

Cricket has been growing steadily in San Jose, thanks to cricket clubs like the Northern California Cricket Alliance. Looking at these growing numbers, the county supervisors have been planning to build a stadium in the Santa Clara Fairgrounds. The Unicorns' minor league affiliate are East Bay Blazers, which competes in the developmental league, Minor League Cricket, and were the Western Division champions of the 2023 edition.

In March 2023, the team ownership, name, and logo was unveiled prior to the inaugural MLC domestic draft. The team is owned by Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, and the team partnered with the Australia's Cricket Victoria for the first season. Justin Gaele, MLC tournament director emphasizing about the Unicorns, told that the Bay Area could serve as the launchpad for cricket in the United States.

2023 season

The Unicorns signed the first overseas player signed in the inaugural MLC — Australian international Aaron Finch. He was subsequently announced as the captain. Corey Anderson, Liam Plunkett, Tajinder Singh and Smit Patel were prominent names picked in the domestic round of the draft; Marcus Stoinis was also announced as another overseas signing by the Unicorns. In May 2023, the team announced direct signing of South African pacer, Lungi Ngidi. On 20 June 2023, Unicorns announced former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson as their head coach for the 2023 season.

The team finished fifth in the tournament, winning just two of their five league matches. They were tied on points with the MI New York, but could not advance to the play-offs due to their negative net run arte.