San Francisco Unicorns bring world-class cricket to Oakland Coliseum

Major League Cricket, the United States’ first professional cricket association, was founded in 2023. Now in its fourth year, the sport is gaining real traction on American soil. The San Francisco Unicorns—one of the original six teams in Major League Cricket—play at the Oakland Coliseum, and 2026 marks their second season playing there.

The timing works by design. Major League Cricket schedules its matches during a month-long gap between seasons of the Indian Premier League, Australia’s Big Bash League, South Africa’s SA20, and the Pakistan Super League. T20 cricket matches last around three hours—short enough to fit American sports fans’ schedules. The sport’s appeal is visceral: there are typically about 10 to 15 sixers at every T20 game.

This season has attracted serious talent. Ravichandran Ashwin, who retired from the Indian Premier League in 2025, signed with the Unicorns for the 2026 season. Liam Plunkett, a retired Unicorn and 2019 Cricket World Cup champion for England, signed a one-day contract to pitch for the Oakland Ballers on June 26, 2026. He threw five pitches against the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds, including a strikeout, and is scheduled to return on July 12, 2026.

Oakland is hosting cricket at a historic scale. The Major League Cricket playoffs will be held at the Oakland Coliseum on July 15 and 16, with the championship on July 18—the first time Major League Cricket’s playoffs will be held in Oakland. The top four teams will face off in matches on July 15 and 16 to determine who will fight for the championship on July 18.

The Unicorns enter the playoffs strong. They were first place in the standings leading into the week of July 15-16, 2026. Matt Short, the team captain and a member of the Australian national team, leads a roster that includes Sanjay Krishnamurthi, who plays for the U.S. national cricket team.

Playoff tickets start at $26.25. The qualifier match kicks off July 15 at 2:30 p.m., with the eliminator at 6:30 p.m. The semifinal follows on July 16 at 6:30 p.m., and the championship match is set for July 18 at 4:30 p.m.

The bigger picture is clear. The International Cricket Council estimates there are 2.5 billion cricket fans across the globe, with an estimated 30 million in the United States. Cricket will be played at the Olympic Games for the first time since 1900 when Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Olympics. The cricket ground for the 2028 Olympics opened recently in Pomona, outside of Los Angeles, and is home to the Knight Riders, co-owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.