| Chicago Catchers | |
| League: | Minor League Cricket |
| Conference: | Central Division (Pacific Conference) |
| Colours: | Light Green, and Red. |
| Captain: | Rizwan Cheema |
| City: | Chicago, Illinois |
| Owner: | Cricket Management Group, LLC |
| Ground: | Washington Park |
| T Title: | T20 kit |
| T Pattern La: | _redborder |
| T Pattern Ra: | _redborder |
| T Leftarm: | 55FF55 |
| T Body: | 55FF55 |
| T Rightarm: | 55FF55 |
| T Pants: | FF0000 |
The Chicago Catchers were an American professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competed in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). The team was based in Chicago, Illinois. It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket.[1] The franchise was owned by the Cricket Management Group, LLC.[2]
The team's home ground was Washington Park, located in Chicago, Illinois.[3] Former Canadian cricket captain Rizwan Cheema helmed captaincy duties, while Karan Kumar stood by as vice-captain.[4]
Americans Shreyas Ramesh and Ranadeep Aleti led the bowling and batting leaderboards with 266 runs and 10 wickets respectively.[5] [6]
Talks of an American Twenty20 league started in November 2018 before USA Cricket became the new governing body of cricket in the United States.[7] [8] In May 2021, USA Cricket announced they accepted a bid by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) for a US$1 billion investment covering the league and other investments benefitting the U.S. national teams.[9]
In an Annual General Meeting (AGM) on February 21, 2020, it was announced that USA Cricket planned to launch Major League Cricket in 2021 and Minor League Cricket that summer,[10] but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic[11] and due to the lack of high-quality cricket stadiums in the U.S.[12] Major League Cricket was pushed to a summer-2023 launch[13] and Minor League Cricket was pushed back to July 31, 2021.[14]
USA Cricket CEO Iain Higgins also pointed out cities such as New York City, Houston and Los Angeles with a large cricket fanbase, and targeted them among others as launch cities for Minor League Cricket.[15]
In July 2020, the player registration for the Minor League Cricket exhibition league began.[16] On August 15, 2020, USA Cricket announced the teams participating in the exhibition league matches, also listing the owners for each team.[17] The draft for the exhibition league began on August 22, 2020,[18] with the Chicago Catchers releasing their squad on September 12.[19] Rizwan Cheema was later named as captain for the Blasters, with Karan Kumar down for vice-captaincy duties for the exhibition league.[20]
After the conclusion of the exhibition league, USA Cricket announced that they were planning to launch the inaugural season of Minor League Cricket in spring 2021.[21] Ahead of the official season, which was announced to kick off on July 31,[22] the Catchers announced Rizwan Cheema as captain with Karan Kumar helming vice-captain duties.
Throughout the group stage, the Catchers lost all of their matches, losing twice against the Athletics, the Blasters, the Hurricanes, the Stars, and the Americans, while losing once against the Strikers, the Blazers, and the Mustangs.[23] [24] The Catchers finished last in their group, thus not advancing to the quarterfinals.
For the 2022 season, it was announced that MiLC was replacing the Catchers with the Chicago Tigers.[25]
| Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Year signed | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batsmen | |||||||
| Abhyu Garg | 23 May 1995 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Karan Kumar | 8 September 1992 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2021 | Overseas | ||
| Kevin Phillip | 5 February 1992 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Deepchand Pinnaka | 18 April 1994 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Rizwan Cheema | 15 August 1978 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Shreyas Ramesh | 17 July 1988 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| All-rounders | |||||||
| Akul Gupta | 19 June 1991 | Left-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Ankush Agarwal | 25 March 1998 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Asmar Najam | 5 July 1982 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Pankaj Kampli | 22 December 1986 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Ranadeep Aleti | 20 October 1990 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Salman Ahmed | 11 December 1964 | Right-handed | 2021 | Overseas | |||
| Sandeep Sivaram | 17 January 1992 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Saquib Chowdary | 18 August 1988 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Shiraz Najam | 18 April 1981 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Sikander Soleja | 4 January 1986 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Tejas Vishal | 19 August 2001 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||
| Wicket-keepers | |||||||
| Sneh Patel | 15 April 1990 | Right-handed | 2021 | ||||