It's Miller time! 26 South Africans in MLC as T20's big hitters go to the States

Not to confuse Bazball with baseball, America's favourite pastime, but for the rest of this month some of the world's best cricketers find themselves in the land of Big Sam to play in a new T20 tournament.

Major League Cricket (MLC), involving six teams competing in Dallas, Texas, and Morrisville, North Carolina, began on Friday (SA time) and will run until 30 July.

The teams, who will collectively play 19 matches, are MI New York, Los Angeles Knight Riders, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings, Washington Freedom and San Francisco Unicorns.

Games kick-off at 22:30 (SA time) and 02:30 (SA time) with each team playing each other in a single round-robin stage before the start of the playoffs.

Three of the teams are co-owned by Indian Premier League franchises (Mumbai Indians, Knight Riders and Super Kings), while Australia's Cricket Victoria has a high-performance partnership with the San Francisco Unicorns and New South Wales with the Washington Freedom.

There is a distinct South African flavour to the tournament with a whopping 26 South Africans represented in the MLC, 15 of whom have represented the Proteas. 

READ | David Miller stars as USA's new Major League Cricket makes big hitting start

In the opening encounter, the Texas Super Kings were sent to bat first with Proteas star batter David Miller top-scoring with 61 off 42 balls including four sixes for the Texas Super Kings, who were sent in to bat first in their 69-run win over Los Angeles Knight Riders.

Miller is among seven South Africans in the Super Kings side, including former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Gerald Coetzee.

Former Proteas death bowler Rusty Theron also features for the Super Kings, but he plays under the American flag after relocating to the