{"id":403441,"date":"2026-07-18T11:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/403441\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T11:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:59:14","slug":"oakland-coliseum-welcomes-bay-area-fans-for-major-league-cricket-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/403441\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland Coliseum Welcomes Bay Area Fans for Major League Cricket Final"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Francisco Unicorns are helping build the sport in Northern California ahead of Saturday’s Championship Final and the stadium’s uncertain future.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Finn Allen of San Francisco Unicorns walk out to bat during match 11 of the Cognizant Major League Cricket season 4 between The San Francisco Unicorns and the Seattle Orcas at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland on June 25, 2026.\u00a0(Courtesy of Major League Cricket)<\/p>\n

American cricketer Sanjay Krishnamurthi recalled watching a baseball game at the Oakland Coliseum<\/a> a few years back, when the Athletics were still playing there.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I remember thinking, it would be really cool if cricket could be like this someday,\u201d the 23-year-old San Jos\u00e9 State University student said. \u201cIt happened sooner than expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krishnamurthi plays for the San Francisco Unicorns<\/a>, a Major League Cricket franchise that has existed since 2023. For the first two seasons, with no \u201chome field\u201d available, the team had to play all of its games outside California. After the A\u2019s left for West Sacramento, the Unicorns moved to the Coliseum \u2014 injecting new life into a venue hurting<\/a> for major or professional sports teams, and seen in many ways as a symbol for Oakland\u2019s trials and transformations.<\/p>\n

Oakland approved new terms for the $125 million sale of its stake in the Coliseum on Monday. Although plans are still uncertain, the new owners, the Oakland Acquisition Company, an affiliate of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, have indicated they want the space to become a destination for musical artists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"San Francisco Unicorns captain Matt Short talks to his players in the huddle during match 15 of the Cognizant Major League Cricket season 4 between San Francisco Unicorns and the Washington Freedom held at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland on June 28, 2026.<\/p>\n

For now, the massive edifice at 7000 Coliseum Way is still functioning as the home of the Oakland Roots soccer team<\/a> for the rest of this season and as the site for the national playoffs for the MLC. The final game on Saturday will pit the Los Angeles Knight Riders against the Washington Freedom.<\/p>\n

Over the past two seasons, while the Unicorns have been at the Coliseum, Krishnamurthi has invited a lot of his buddies who didn\u2019t grow up watching the game to give it a try.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCricket sells itself,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce people see and understand the game in person, it brings fans in.\u201d<\/p>\n

This version of cricket, which is called T-20, is not the one many of us are vaguely familiar with from British novels and Masterpiece Theater. The games take about three hours, not three days, and the players are not wearing baggy white flannels but brightly colored uniforms \u2014 orange for the Unicorns, purple for the Knight Riders \u2014 with logos splashed across the front.<\/p>\n

\"\"Fans wave flags as the San Francisco Unicorns play the Washington Freedom during their opening Major League Cricket game at the Oakland Coliseum on June 12, 2025.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fast-paced and high-scoring \u2014 if you\u2019re annoyed by a soccer match that may end in a 0-0 tie, check out the box score of Thursday\u2019s game, where the Washington Freedom spoiled the Unicorns\u2019 hopes for the championship \u2014 238\/6 to 231\/6.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn cricket, you can score 360 degrees. You can score behind yourself,\u201d Liam Plunkett, part of the broadcast team for Major League Cricket, said on Sunday. \u201cYou don\u2019t run the bases, you run back and forth. And if you do hit the equivalent of a home run \u2014 a six \u2014 you stay batting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve got a batsman who\u2019s hot on that day, he stays there and keeps batting,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes you get guys who hit the equivalent of 15 home runs in one game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plunkett played for the Unicorns last year, but at age 41, decided it was time to retire, although he did sign a limited contract to play baseball for the Oakland Ballers for a couple of games on cricket off-days. That gives him some room to compare and contrast the two games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The San Francisco Unicorns celebrate during their opening Major League Cricket game against the Washington Freedom at the Oakland Coliseum on June 12, 2025.<\/p>\n

The MLC season is short \u2014 just one month separates the first of 34 games from the championship this year. Unicorns CEO David White said cricket watchers are used to that and follow their favorite players through various leagues around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the most avid cricket fan is very impressed when they get to an MLC match and see the quality of players we have,\u201d he said. \u201cOur team alone has five or six players who\u2019ve just come in from the Indian Premier League, stars from all over the world, Pakistan, India, Australia, South Africa, you name it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although the Unicorns are branded as \u201cSan Francisco,\u201d a lot of the South Asian American fanbase lives in the South Bay, and Oakland is just as convenient for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The unusually spacious dimensions of the Coliseum\u2019s playing field, designed to accommodate both football and baseball, make it work for cricket, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I watched the film Moneyball 100 times,\u201d Geale said. \u201cThe Oakland Raiders would play NFL football right here. For me to be able to walk out here, a kid from Australia who never thought he\u2019d be in America, is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

White said he expects Saturday\u2019s final will have the largest crowd in MLC\u2019s brief history, perhaps in excess of 10,000 attendees. He said the team is planning live South Asian music, fireworks and even a version of one of the Coliseum\u2019s greatest traditions \u2014 tailgating.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco Unicorns are helping build the sport in Northern California ahead of Saturday’s Championship Final and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-403441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}