The Washington Freedom is an American professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team based in Washington, D.C., United States. that competes in Major League Cricket (MLC).
The team was announced in 2023 as one of six inaugural franchises to play in the league. The Freedom are owned by Indian American entrepreneur Sanjay Govil. The team is coached by Ricky Ponting and is captained by Steve Smith.
Contents
History
Team creation
In May 2022, Major League Cricket announced that it had secured $120 million from various investors across the United States. One of these investors was Sanjay Govil, who was later announced to be the lead investor and owner of the Washington DC–based franchise team. Alongside MLC, Govil partnered up with George Mason University to launch a feasibility study into a 12,000-seat hybrid cricket/baseball stadium later that year in December. The proposed stadium would host both cricket and baseball games and support up to 12,000 spectators upon its completion in summer 2025. George Mason University announced in March 2024 that it would not proceed with the stadium.
In February 2023, Major League Cricket announced that Govil had entered a partnership with Cricket New South Wales to help accelerate the growth of the DC-based franchise. The agreement included initiatives to further player development opportunities, as well as cricket content, within the U.S., an exchange program of coaches and support staff, and opportunities for NSW-based players to play in MLC. Cricket NSW chief executive Lee Germon stated that "... he [Govil] was very keen to not have an IPL partner... [and wanted to] partner with someone outside who could really bring what we wanted to the table."
In March 2023, the team's name, Washington Freedom, and logo were officially unveiled to the public. Upon the unveiling of the team name and logo, Govil said that, "the team's mark and colors are a perfect for a team from the nation's capital to compete on the global stage."
The Freedom, in the second overall 2023 draft, picked Seattle-based Andries Gous. Dane Piedt, Mukhtar Ahmed, and Saad Ali were also all picked up by the team, with South African quick Anrich Nortje announced as a direct signing during the draft. Further signings were made throughout May and June, consisting of the likes of Marco Jansen, Akeal Hosein, and New Zealander Glenn Phillips.
Ahead of the inaugural season opener, the team announced it would be led by Australian Moises Henriques and coached by Greg Shipperd. Tanveer Sangha was brought on in early July as a replacement for Wanindu Hasaranga, who dropped out, while Matthew Short was added to the squad as an injury replacement for Josh Philippe.
On July 12, 2023, Steve Smith joined Washington Freedom as the team's brand ambassador.
Dominance under Smith, Maxwell
From 2024 through to 2026, the Freedom were considered to be one of the strongest and most dominant teams in the league. During this period, the team reached three consecutive MLC finals and clinched their first title win in 2024.
Following a good inaugural season, the team retained much of its overseas and domestic core, including Akeal Hosein and U.S. bulwarks Andries Gous and Saurabh Netravalkar. Ahead of the 2024 season opener, the team signed, amongst others, domestics Ian Holland, Yasir Mohammad and future captains Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell.
With Smith appointed the team's captain and Ricky Ponting replacing Shipperd as head coach, he led the Freedom through a dominant tournament – with Maxwell and fellow Australian teammate Travis Head firing with the bat and Netravalkar and New Zealander Rachin Ravindra topping the league's bowling charts. In the group stage, they went top of the table by first recording a 3-0-1 record in Morrisville. Barring one washout game against Texas, the Freedom defeated New York by 4 runs in a rain-affected endeavor, cruised past Seattle by 5 wickets, and crushed Los Angeles by 8 wickets. In Grand Prairie, the team continued their undefeated streak by again defeating Los Angeles, steamrolling New York by 94 runs, and clinching a heavy 42-run victory over Texas. Their only defeat of the season came at the hands of San Francisco, as they were downed by 6 wickets. In the finals, the Freedom defeated the Unicorns by 96 runs to win their first title.
The following year in February, ahead of the Freedom's third season, the team once again retained much of its overseas and domestic cadre, but had to let go of Head due to an overlapping Australian tour of the West Indies. In the four-month leadup to the season opener, the Freedom made a slew of signings to fill up its remaining team spots, including Mitchell Owen and Glenn Phillips. Amidst concern that Smith would not be able to play for the Freedom due to international commitments, the Freedom confirmed that they were eyeing a 2-match stint for him. Ultimately, due to an injury, he dropped out of the tournament as Maxwell took over captaincy duties.
As defending champions, the Freedom began their season with a crushing 123-run loss to San Francisco – courtesy of Finn Allen's mammoth 151. They quickly recovered, going 4–0 with a 5-wicket win over Seattle, a heavy 113-run Maxwell-powered victory over Los Angeles, a thrilling last-over 2-wicket game against New York, and a high-scoring 7-wicket chase against Texas. The Freedom closed off their Dallas leg of the tournament strong by again defeating Los Angeles via a last-ball single and delivering San Francisco a 12-run defeat, their first of the season. Ensured of a playoff berth, Washington headed into Lauderhill with a 6–1 record, tied with San Francisco on points but lower on net run rate.
Home stadium
After previously eyeing George Mason University for a potential home stadium, the Freedom's plans were scrapped in early March 2024. Its construction had faced opposition from both students and university neighbors, hence the proposal's rejection. Thus, looking elsewhere, Freedom co-owner Sanjay Govil "lobbied top [D.C.] officials" for a cricket stadium on the defunct RFK Stadium's campus. The stadium, which was initially envisioned to be a temporary 4,000-seater stadium, evolved into a 10,000-seater proposal in the wake of the New Stadium at RFK Campus deal.
The team is also pushing for a potential stadium, which is described as a cricket park in a well-preserved green environment along the Monocacy River in Frederick, Maryland, situated in the D.C. metro area. Called "Frederick Gateway", the facility would host a maximum of 10,000 spectators and currently requires rezoning of some land. The rezoning proposal unanimously cleared the Frederick Planning Commission on July 14, 2025. Over the next several months, the proposal underwent several revisions under the guidance of the City Council, and was cleared for approval on August 6, 2026. Construction on the site broke ground on October 16, 2026. The Freedom hope to complete construction and host matches at the site by the start of the 2027 season.
Current squad
Players with international caps are listed in bold.
Administration and support staff
Seasons
Tournament finishes
C: champions
RU: runner-up
SF team qualified for the semi-final stage of the competition
Records and statistics
As of July 20, 2026