Maxwell, Law joins the signing as Australian influence in American cricket grows

Former international batsman named US men's coach for T20 World Cup as Glenn Maxwell becomes latest Australian to commit to MLC

Queensland great Stuart Law says he is excited to be the coach chosen by USA Cricket to provide the historic push to make the sport a national hit during their breakthrough World Cup summer campaign.

The 55-year-old former Australian international batsman has been confirmed as head coach of the US men's national team in a year when cricket has never had a higher profile there.

Superstar all-rounder Glenn Maxwell is also set for a stint in the US after the T20 World Cup in June after becoming the latest Australian to sign up for this year's Major League Cricket tournament.

The World Cup will be held in both the US and West Indies from June 1 to 29, with Law, who has previously coached Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies and Afghanistan, seen as the man who will boost the hosts' hopes of a will lead to a good home game. .

“It's an exciting opportunity to join USA Cricket at this time,” said Law, a prolific domestic run-scorer who made an unbeaten half-century in his only Test for Australia, while also playing 54 one-day internationals.

“The USA is one of the strongest associate countries in the sport and I believe we can form a formidable team.

“The first task will be to prepare the team for a series against Bangladesh and then set our sights on our home World Cup, which will be huge.”

The first assignment for Law, who finished his first-class career in 2009 with 27,080 runs (an average of more than 50 over a 20-year career with Queensland and Great Britain), will be to oversee the Americans' home match against Bangladesh next month. Houston, Texas.

His first World Cup match will be the tournament opener in Dallas when the hosts take on Canada on June 1 before playing Pakistan, India and Ireland in the group stages.

USA Cricket chairman Venu Pisike said Law was the right man for the job as “one of the most talented coaches in the sport” and added that he would “help the team reach their full potential”.

The second edition of the MLC will then kick off on July 4, with Maxwell joining his Australian teammates Travis Head and Steve Smith in the Washington Freedom, which will be coached by legendary batsman Ricky Ponting.

Maxwell, who was ruled out of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's final match in the Indian Premier League due to poor form and has now revealed he is struggling with a minor hip injury, said the familiar faces of Head, Smith and Ponting in Washington 'talked him into the edge”.

“It's a tournament that I watched from a distance last year and I was really excited about hopefully playing this tournament one day and luckily the timings have aligned this year,” Maxwell told ESPN's Around the Wicket.

“I've been talking to Ricky Ponting and a few other players a lot lately and I'm certainly super excited to get stuck into it.

“Just having those few Aussies there and I think the opportunity to be part of something really big in the MLC and grow something is really exciting as well.

“The excitement with the T20 World Cup this year, to have this MLC tournament right after that will be a great experience to see how the Americans approach cricket and hopefully they really get behind it.”

The Freedom, who have a high-quality partnership with Cricket NSW, have also added emerging New Zealand all-rounder Rachin Ravindra to their squad for the 2024 tournament.

Australians in the 2024 MLC

LA Knight Riders: Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson

MI New York: Tim David

San Francisco Unicorns: Matt Short, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Brody Couch (domestic signing)

Seattle Orcas: Cameron Gannon (domestic signing)

Texas Super Kings: Cameron Stevenson (domestic signing)

Washington Freedom: Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head, Steve Smith, Ian Holland (domestic signing)