MORRISVILLE
After a successful season that ended with a semi-finals appearance, the Morrisville Cardinals won’t be returning for a third run as North Carolina’s professional cricket team.
Minor League Cricket, the development league of Major League Cricket sanctioned by USA Cricket, terminated its licensing agreement with the Cardinals shortly after the league and the Town of Morrisville announced a multi-million dollar expansion of Church Street Park earlier this year.
This month, Minor League Cricket announced a new team, the Morrisville Raptors, ahead of the 2022 season that kicks off Saturday, June 25 across the nation.
Reasons for terminating
At the end of the 2021 season last September, Major League Cricket reviewed all 27 minor league teams to evaluate their success and also to ensure team owners met the goals they set when they joined the league.
One of those goals included building additional cricket fields and facilities for home and visitor teams to train.
The Cardinals’ owners fell short on those expectations, a league spokesperson told The News & Observer. Other franchises across the country met a similar fate and also have new teams replacing them.
“Ownership of the Morrisville team reverted back to MiLC,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “The Morrisville Raptors will take part in the 2022 Minor League Season, with operational support from local cricket community leaders.”
One Cardinals owner, Praveen Chakraraj, sided with the league and did not challenge their decision.
The three other owners, Sai Nidamarty, Sunil Battula and Ram Kuntamukkala, rebuked the league’s claims and say they were actively searching for places to build a new ground. They also believe the town could’ve done more to prevent the franchise from losing their agreement.
“When something like this happened, we expected at least the town mayor to be sensitive and (empathize with) all this,” Nidamarty said.
With a huge partnership between MLC and the Town of Morrisville already underway —plus the large fan base cricket already has in Morrisville thanks to the international population that lives there— the league decided to start another team.
“I am truly saddened an internal business dispute led to the dissolving of the Morrisville Cardinals franchise,” Morrisville mayor TJ Cawley shared in an email statement. “I and many others enjoyed supporting the Cardinals and recognize the value the first professional cricket team brought to our community.”
MiLC gathered input from locals and selected “The Morrisville Raptors” as the team’s name. The logo, designed by local cricket fan Nate Hays, is also meant to be a nod to the town and the state.
“The team’s logo features a striking M in the shape of a raptor, a bird of prey common to the North Carolina region,” MiLC shared in a press release. “The logo’s green and blue branding matches the Town of Morrisville’s official colors.”
For now, the new Morrisville Raptors are operated by American Cricket Enterprises, the California-based corporate entity of Major League Cricket, until the league identifies a new owner.
The future of Morrisville cricket
The end of the Cardinals is by no means the end of cricket in Morrisville, said Mark Stohlman, former mayor of Morrisville who plays recreationally in a local Triangle Cricket League team.
“There is some great stuff happening at Church Street (Park),” he said. “We are very excited about Morrisville and the the future of cricket here.”
The Morrisville Raptors will be led by former South Africa natives Dane Piedt as captain and Obus Pienaar as vice-captain. Other star-studded names on the roster include Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Milantha —who played for the Cardinals— and 2021 USA National Team U-19 selections Rohan Phadke, Abhiram Bolisetty and Adi Gupta.
The Morrisville Raptors kick off their first season Saturday at Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida, currently the only cricket stadium in the United States.
The Raptors return home to Church Street Park in Morrisville for games July 1 through 4.
