Australian young guns could miss start of Major League Cricket season as international tours beckon

San Francisco Unicorns are bracing to be without emerging Australian young stars Ollie Peake, Aaron Hardie, Cooper Connolly and Xavier Bartlett for the start of the Major League Cricket season.

The 19-year-old Peake and all-rounder Hardie are fresh signings for a Unicorns franchise that will be led by new coach Cameron White. The fourth edition of MLC starts on June 18 with Unicorns making their season debut against Los Angeles Knight Riders on the 19th in Dallas.

The Unicorns may be shorthanded to start the season with Australia having white-ball tours of Pakistan and Bangladesh coming up. They have a three-match ODI series in Pakistan from May 30-June 4 before an ODI and T20I tour of Bangladesh from June 9-21.

Code Sports reported that Peake will be picked to face Pakistan, while it also stated that Hardie has been brought back into the T20 fold.

Connolly, who played four matches for Unicorns last season, and Bartlett will also be in strong contention after their starring roles in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

“Just for the first couple of games there is an overlap and we are expecting to miss a couple of those Australians on that (Bangladesh) tour,” White told Cricket Financial Journal.

“Of course in our planning, we’ve made sure we’ve got enough cover replacement players for those guys we’re expecting to miss.”

Whether he will arrive in the US as a newly-minted international cricketer remains to be seen, but Peake is quickly becoming a rising star.

White knows him particularly well having coached Peake at Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League where the teenager produced a last ball six to lift his side past eventual champions Perth Scorchers at Optus Stadium. MLC will mark Peake’s first foray into overseas T20 franchise cricket.

“With his ability and the way he understands and reads the game, I think he’s probably not far away from playing international cricket,” White said. “Will be a great experience for him to be here with the Unicorns around some of the world’s best players.

“So whatever role he plays, I think it’s exciting for him and the team. Just looking forward to obviously get to work with him again and seeing what he can bring throughout the tournament.”

Hardie, who has played 31 white-ball matches for Australia, also looms as a key signing for Unicorns having previously played for Texas Super Kings in 2024. Injuries and inconsistencies saw him fall down the pecking order of Australia’s white-ball teams with Hardie not in the frame for Australia’s T20 World Cup squad earlier this season.

But he’s put together outstanding T20 form this year after starring roles in the BBL and most recently in the Pakistan Super League.

“The flexibility he can bring to the line-up, being a top six batter and someone that can bowl, really outlines his all-round strengths,” White said. “Players like that can give us a lot of flexibility. We saw what he did in the PSL final and it’s a performance like that which will probably put him in the picture for those Australian tours.”