Cricket’s first showing in North Carolina was a success, as thousands of fans descended on Church Street Park, Morrisville.

Washington Freedom and LA Knight Riders contested the first of seven fixtures to be played at the ground in this year’s edition of Major League Cricket. 

A four hour drive from Washington, it’s expected that a number of Freedom fans will be in attendance over the coming days, with noticeably more Washington Freedom hats and tops in the crowd for the Thursday night fixture against LA Knight Riders – which Freedom won by six wickets. 

Freedom owner Sanjay Govil was in attendance and described it as a, “great”, atmosphere.

“It’s amazing to be here in Morrisville,” said Govil. “It’s a great atmosphere, we’re a four-and-a-half hour drive from D.C and Saturday and Sunday we have a lot of fans coming here.

Freedom were also well supported by juniors from the Triangle Cricket League, a local competition with strong connections to Freedom players such as Dane Piedt and Obus Pienaar, who play for the Morrisville Raptors.

After the match, the juniors were able to get autographs, photos and some words of wisdom from the players – with the likes of Glenn Phillips, Akeal Hosein and Anrich Nortje signing every autograph and taking every selfie that was requested to put a cherry on top on what had been an excellent evening for Washington Freedom and American cricket.