SAN FRANCISCO UNICORNS ADD ABRAR AHMED AND SHERFANE RUTHERFORD TO INTERNATIONAL ROSTER
- Rising international stars Sherfane Rutherford and Abrar Ahmed have been added to the Unicorn’s roster for the second season of Major League Cricket.
- Both players will represent their international teams, West Indies and Pakistan, in June’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which the USA and West Indies are co-hosting.
- The Unicorns roster already boasts prolific hitter Finn Allen, two-time World Cup winner Josh Inglis, express bowler Harris Rauf, and domestic stars Liam Plunkett and Corey Anderson.
- Tickets for all matches are available now at tickets.majorleaguecricket.com.
The San Francisco Unicorns has bolstered its roster for the second season of Major League Cricket, with Pakistani spinner Abrar Ahmed and West Indian batter Sherfane Rutherford.
Left-handed batter Rutherford will bring six-hitting ability to the Unicorns, following participation as a middle order batsman with his international team, the West Indies, co-hosts of this year’s T20 World Cup alongside the United States.
Having burst onto the domestic scene in the T20 Caribbean Premier League for his native Guyana, 25-year-old Rutherford has taken his menacing batting style to other leading T20 franchises, where he most recently represented the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
With a strike rate of more than a run-and-a-half per ball, Rutherford is set to fit seamlessly into an already stacked batting order, featuring the retained Finn Allen of New Zealand and new signings from Australia in two-time World Cup winner Josh Inglis and recent star of Australia’s Big Bash League, Jake Fraser-McGurk.
“This summer is set to be a true cricketing spectacle in the US, with the T20 World Cup quickly followed by what’s set to be a bigger and better second season of Major League Cricket,” said Rutherford. “I can’t wait to pull on the Unicorns jersey alongside my new teammates and show our fans what we can do.”
Mystery spin bowler Abrar Ahmed, who shot to stardom after bamboozling England’s top order on Test debut, will bring fear to opposing batters with his mastery of the hard-to-pick ‘googly’ and ‘carrom ball.’
Also playing in this summer’s T20 World Cup with Pakistan, Ahmed’s rapid rise to prominence continues following a late arrival on the international scene three years ago. Since picking England apart on his full Pakistan debut in 2022, the ‘leggy’ has gone on to be signed for Islamabad United and, most recently, Quetta Gladiators in the PSL.
Abrar Ahmed, who will bowl in tandem with retained compatriot and fast bowler Harris Rauf, Kiwi international Matt Henry, and domestic talents Liam Plunkett and Corey Anderson, said: “To be playing in front of cricket fans in the US this summer is a huge honor, and I’m looking forward to playing alongside my new teammates, to bring success to the Unicorns in 2024.”
The 2024 Major League Cricket season will commence on July 5, with San Francisco Unicorn’s first match coming on July 7, when they take on the LA Knight Riders at Grand Prairie Stadium, in Grand Prairie, TX.
Tickets for all matches are available now at tickets.majorleaguecricket.com.
####
About The San Francisco Unicorns
The San Francisco Unicorns launched in 2023 as one of six founding members of Major League Cricket (MLC), a ground-breaking T20 competition bringing some of world cricket’s biggest names to the USA for the first time. The inaugural roster includes Australian international stars Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk, New Zealand’s Finn Allen and Matt Henry, and 2019 Cricket World Cup champion Liam Plunkett. Cricket Victoria, the governing body for the sport in the Australian state of Victoria, serves as the Unicorns’ high-performance partner.
In partnership with MLC, the Unicorns plan to build a world-class home for the team in the Bay Area, which will seat up to 15,000 people and be capable of hosting major international cricket events. The team’s primary investors are Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, who are founding partners of data-driven venture firm rocketship.vc, and who previously founded US-focused database technology provider Junglee, which sold to Amazon in 1998 for $250m.
Media Contact
Ryan Bailey: ryan@redknotcomms.com
