For the second half of the inaugural Major League Cricket season, the action moved to Church Street Park, in Morrisville, North Carolina. The grounds have gotten a serious facelift since last year's Minor League Cricket finals and, as a result, sell-out crowds of 3,500 fans per game were able to enjoy the festive and family-friendly atmosphere.

After the Dallas leg of the tournament, it was surprising to see that despite the number of stellar international players in the league, it was domestic players who were putting up top numbers in runs, sixes, and wickets taken. That didn't hold up through the Morrisville matches -- internationally-known names like Klaasen, Pooran, and Boult ended up tops in those categories -- but domestic players contributed mightily in helping their teams fight for playoff positions.

With the regular season complete, Steve Steinberg of CricAmerica breaks down the matches that took place in Morrisville and looks ahead to the playoffs in Dallas.

Seattle Orcas

The Orcas came into Church Street Park with the only unblemished record in the league and quickly stated their case for being the team to beat by knocking off the first-place Texas Super Kings in their opening game at Church Street Park. A surprising loss to the basement-dwelling Los Angeles Knight Riders temporarily clouded the playoff picture, but a spectacular chase and victory over MI New York in the regular season finale cemented the Orcas as the top squad going into the playoffs.

A lot of this comes thanks to the bat of Heinrich Klaasen. He was the hero of the win over TSK, helping take the team over the line with a 42 not out from just 21 balls, but -- apparently -- he was just getting warmed up. In the final game at Morrisville, with all sorts of playoff implications on the line, Klaasen put up the only century of the Major League Cricket season so far. His 110 from 44 balls (a 250 strike rate!) included nine fours and seven sixes and was clearly the most dominant batting innings of the tournament.

Maybe the unsung hero of the team, though, is Nauman Anwar. Opening with a very hit-and-miss Quinton de Kock, Nauman was consistently able to get the Orcas' innings off to a good start. He had knocks of 19 and 32 against the Super Kings and Knight Riders and saved his best for when the Orcas needed it most -- banging out 51 from 30 balls in the win over New York.

Just as consistent has been the bowling of Harmeet Singh. The former Seattle Thunderbolt continued to dominate in North Carolina, holding TSK to just 20 runs and MI NY to only 21 runs in his three overs against each team. His 6.93 economy placed him sixth in the league among bowlers who bowled more than ten overs.

Texas Super Kings

The Super Kings left the home cooking of Dallas with a 2-1 record and it seems the cooking in North Carolina was a lot to their liking, as well. Texas put up a 1-1 record in Morrisville to secure a playoff spot. After a lackluster showing against the Orcas, where they could only manage a subpar 127, TSK -- buoyed by an everyone-hop-on-my-back performance by Daniel Sams -- finished the season with a thrilling win over the San Francisco Unicorns. Sams might have provided the lion's share of the run production -- he finished with a 42 from 18 stat line -- but the exclamation point on the victory came courtesy of a monster six by former Chicago Tiger Calvin Savage that all but sealed the victory.

Another pleasant surprise for the Super Kings as they head into the playoffs has been the bowling of Rusty Theron. In six overs at Church Street Park, Theron allowed just 35 runs for an economy of 5.83. This dropped his regular season bowling economy to an impressive 7.38.

Washington Freedom

The schedule had the Freedom playing only two games in sweltering Dallas and they were able to carve out two impressive wins in the slightly less sweltering Morrisville. Washington won their first two games at Church Street Park before losing the season finale to MI New York to end their three-game winning streak and finish the season at 3-2.

Key to the Freedom success has been the play of captain Moises Henriques with both bat and ball. Henriques put up solid innings of 16, 30, and 32 in three games in North Carolina. And he was stellar with the ball in both Freedom wins, taking three wickets from the LA Knight Riders and holding the Unicorns to just nine runs over three overs.

Washington wicket-keeper -- and former Seattle Thunderbolt -- Andries Gous also let his bat do the talking at Church Street Park. The South African put up totals of 40, 23, and 20 in the three games, the 40 against the Knight Riders coming from just 15 balls.

Morrisville fave Dane Piedt continued to quietly put up big numbers in a bowling attack featuring two of the most intimidating bowlers in the league in Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen. The right arm off spinner allowed a combined 28 runs over six overs at Church Street, dropping his regular season economy to 6.69 which was the fourth lowest in the league for anyone bowling at least ten overs.

Maybe the performance of the season, though, belonged to Team USA member and former Silicon Valley Striker, Saurabh Netravalkar. Captain America decimated the San Francisco Unicorns on Saturday night, taking six wickets while giving up only nine runs over 3.5 overs. And if you're into trivia, the Freedom's win over the Unicorns was the only time a team successfully defended its total in Morrisville.

MI New York

MI New York left Dallas in fourth place and now leave Morrisville and head back to Dallas in fourth place. That said, there's a lot about how they're currently playing that could have them hoisting the trophy when the dust clears.

New York leans heavily into the bats of Kieron Pollard, Tim David, and Nicholas Pooran -- Pooran led all batters with 19 sixes and briefly led the league in runs before Heinrich Klaasen's century in the final game in Morrisville. But just outside the Big Three is Team USA cricketer, Shayan Jahangir. Jahangir finishes the regular season with 93 runs at a strike rate of 114.81. It was also nice to see his fellow USA teammate Monank Patel break loose. The former Empire State Titan's 44 from 29 balls was a key factor in NY's important win over Washington.

And if you're a fan of American cricket, it's pretty cool that on a team that includes Rashid Khan, the squad's most impressive spin bowler up until now might just be Nosh Kenjige. Kenjige grabbed a wicket and held Washington to just 19 runs in four overs and even though he was roughed up a bit in the finale against the Orcas, he still ended up leading the league in economy with a very stingy 5.90 -- the only sub-6.00 economy rate for anyone bowling ten or more overs.

San Francisco Unicorns

The Unicorns rolled into Morrisville in third place in the league with a 2-1 record -- their only loss in Dallas being to the then-undefeated Seattle Orcas. Unfortunately, the squad just wasn't able to get on track in Church Street Park.

They ran up against Saurabh Netravalkar and the Washington Freedom in their first game in NC and were sent packing after putting up a disappointing 103 in their chase attempt with Netravalkar claiming six wickets. In their final game, they again ran into a man on a mission. After putting up a respectable 171 against the Super Kings, they could only watch as Danial Sams hammered away at their total with a knock of 42 from only 18 balls -- a 233.33 strike rate for the day.

As it was in Dallas, the two brightest stars for the Unicorns both call the US their home. Corey Anderson continued to be hot with the bat, dropping 34 on the Freedom and another 14 on the Super Kings. He was leading the league in runs at the halfway point of the season and while he couldn't maintain that league-leading hitting pace, he was able to finish the regular season as San Francisco's top scorer with 190 runs at a strike rate of 145.03.

Liam Plunkett finished off the campaign as the Unicorn's leader in bowling economy at 7.98 and tied for the team lead in wickets -- he and Haris Rauf both grabbed seven each. Both of his Morrisville appearances were impressive -- holding Washington to just 24 runs in four overs and taking a wicket and restricting Texas to 20 runs in 3.1 overs.

Los Angeles Knight Riders

Unless you were a fan of Andre Russell, Rilee Rossouw, or purple uniforms, there really wasn't much to sink your hooks into if you were a Knight Riders fan this season. The team struggled from the outset in Dallas and somewhat righted the ship in Morrisville, but even when they did manage to put up strong numbers, their opposition was able to put up stronger numbers. The team's one crowning glory was a win over the league-leading Seattle Orcas to end the season and avoid a winless campaign.

Once you look past the power stats of Russell (206 runs at a 156.06 strike rate) and Rossouw (133 runs at a rate of 152.87), things dropped off pretty sharply. Former Silicon Valley Striker Unmukt Chand played relatively consistently as an opener, but despite being the team's third most productive scorer didn't see any action in the team's sole victory.

With the ball, LAKR depended greatly on captain Sunil Narine, who led the team with a 6.40 economy -- the only sub-7.00 economy for any of the squad's regular bowlers. It was nice to see former Seattle Thunderbolt Shadley van Schalkwyk impress in his one appearance for the Knight Riders. In the win over the Orcas, the lanky South African took one wicket and limited Seattle to 22 runs in three overs. And he was also able to contribute with the bat, providing some quick and needed late-order offensive pop with 12 runs off of six balls, including a four and a six.

The opening season of Major League Cricket has been a success on just about every level. The weather -- despite being 90-plus degrees for just about every match -- has held out and no matches have had to be canceled due to rain. Crowd response has been phenomenal with a majority of the games being sold out. And TV coverage has been top-notch with a production quality that rivals that of the top leagues in the world. The action now heads back to Dallas and Grand Prairie Stadium for the playoffs. If the final four matches of the season rival the fun and intensity of the first fifteen matches, we're in for a very entertaining weekend.