The Seattle Thunderbolts are an American professional

Twenty20 cricket Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

team based in the

Seattle metropolitan area The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding Satellite city, satellites and suburbs. The United States Census Bureau defines the Seattle–T ...

that competes in

Minor League Cricket Minor League Cricket (MiLC) is a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket league in the United States that serves as the Minor league, developmental league for Major League Cricket (MLC). The league comprises 26 teams, divided between the Atlanti ...

(MiLC). It was formed in 2021 as part of 3 new teams to compete in Minor League Cricket. The franchise is owned by Seattle Sports LLC, as part of its cricket development program, owned by Phani Chitneni, Vijay Beniwal, and Salman Taj. The team's home ground is Klahanie Park and

Marymoor Park Marymoor Park, located on the north end of Lake Sammamish in Redmond, Washington, is King County's largest, oldest, and most popular park, with more than 3 million annual visitors coming to roam its . Among recreational activities available ar ...

, both located in the Eastside region of

King County, Washington King County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of counties in Washington, most populo ...

. They are coached by

Paul Valthaty Paul Chandrashekar Valthaty (born 7 December 1983) is a former Indian cricketer who played for Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League and for India in the 2002 ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup. He had to retire from the ...

and captained by Ian Dev Singh. The current leading run-scorer is

Andries Gous Andries Gous ( /ˈɑndrəs ˈɦəʊs/, AHN-drəs HAUS; born 24 November 1993) is a South African-American cricketer who plays for the Washington Freedom, and the United States national cricket team. Born in South Africa, he represents the Unit ...

, with the highest wicket-taker being Shadley van Schalkwyk.

Franchise history

Background

Talks of an American

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

league started in November 2018 just before

USA Cricket USA Cricket (USAC) is the governing body of cricket in the United States. USA Cricket operates all of the United States national representative cricket sides, including the men's and women's national teams and youth teams, as well as Majo ...

became the new governing body of cricket in the United States. In May 2021, USA Cricket announced they had accepted a bid by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) for a

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

1 billion investment covering the league and other investments benefitting the U.S. national teams. In an Annual General Meeting on February 21, 2020, it was announced that USA Cricket was planning to launch

Major League Cricket Major League Cricket (MLC) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in the United States organized by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) and sanctioned by USA Cricket. Founded in 2023, the league operates as a single entity consisting of ...

in 2021 and

that summer, but it was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and due to the lack of high-quality cricket stadiums in the USA. Major League Cricket was pushed to a summer-2023 launch and Minor League Cricket was pushed back to July 31, 2021. USA Cricket CEO Iain Higgins pointed out cities such as

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

with a large cricket fanbase, and targeted them among others as launch cities for Minor League Cricket.

2021 season

Before the season's drafting,

and American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) announced 3 new teams for the 2021 season including the Seattle Thunderbolts, the Manhattan Yorkers, and the St. Louis Americans. Ahead of the official season, which was announced to kick off on July 31, they announced Harmeet Singh as captain and

as vice-captain. For their first four matches of the season, they lost by a margin of 7, 6, 2, and 7 wickets, before going on a 6-match winning streak. Their winning streak was ended due to a 46-run loss against the Michigan Cricket Stars. They then lost back-to-back matches against the Golden State Grizzlies and the East Bay Blazers, before winning by 7 wickets against the

Silicon Valley Strikers The Silicon Valley Strikers are an American professional Twenty20 cricket team based in the San Francisco Bay Area that competes in Minor League Cricket (MiLC). It was formed in 2020 as part of 24 original teams to compete in Minor League Cricket ...

in their last match of the season. They ended off the group stage with 7 wins and 7 losses, ending up in 4th place in their division, thus not qualifying for the finals.

2022 season

Ahead of the 2022 season,

announced that the draft for that season would take place on May 12.

Current squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold.

References