Santner backs New Zealand Cricket’s decision to put off Major League Cricket team plan

New Zealand's Mitchell Santner seen during a training session. | Photo Credit: AFP

Captain Mitchell Santner on Wednesday backed New Zealand Cricket’s decision to not own a team in the Major League Cricket’s 2027 edition.

The NZC on Wednesday announced that it will not proceed with its plans to have a team based in either Toronto or Atlanta in the American league.

Major League Cricket currently features six teams -- Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Texas, and Washington, D.C. -- and intends to expand to 10 teams.

The NZC was in partnership with True North Sports Ventures to execute the plan of having a team in MLC but ended the agreement, which was announced in 2025.

“You can’t do everything, and it’s going to be a solid investment in both,” Santner told reporters, pointing at the national board’s plans to have a domestic T20 League of its own with overseas players involved in it.

“For them to try back a home soil competition is cool. If that gets it off the ground, that’s what we want.”

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NZC had earlier pushed its plans from launching its men’s and women’s T20 competition -- NZ20 -- from January 2027 to December 2027.

“It’s going to benefit more so domestic players as well to show their talent on a major stage. Obviously overseas players coming in get more backing by some big teams and investors.

“Again, you’re putting yourself on a big stage in front of a lot of people, and that’s the goal. And then it opens up doors to play franchise cricket,” Santner said.

The New Zealand captain said having the Kiwi cricketers playing around the world would only add to their experience.

“The more guys can play around the world, as we’ve seen in international cricket -- as a team when we have gone to different countries and done well -- is because of the experiences we’ve had in those conditions,” Santner said.

“It’s going to be better; everyone’s going to be better for it. And even guys like Tim Seifert, who have gone away, have played all over the world and come back a very, very good player. The same is with Finn Allen, so there are two good sides of it,” he added.