Australia batter Steve Smith and South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen are among the overseas stars to be retained for the 2025 Major League Cricket tournament.

The pair have been retained by champions Washington Freedom and Seattle Ocras respectively.

Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, South Africa’s Marco Jansen and New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra will also stay at Freedom while Los Angeles Knight Riders have kept West Indies duo Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.

Four of the six sides have confirmed their retentions so far with MI Cape Town – who had the likes of Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan and West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran on their roster – and San Francisco Unicorns – who had Australia skipper Pat Cummins in their squad – yet to announce their retentions.

Number one-ranked T20 batter Travis Head (Freedom), Jason Roy, David Miller, Josh Little (all Knight Riders), Quinton de Kock (Ocras), Aiden Markram and Mitchell Santner (both Super Kings) are among the players to be released.

Overseas players retained for Major League Cricket 2025

Los Angeles Knight Riders: Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Spencer Johnson

MI New York: Yet to be confirmed

San Francisco Unicorns: Yet to be confirmed

Seattle Ocras: Heinrich Klaasen and Ryan Rickelton

Texas Super Kings: Faf du Plessis, Noor Ahmad, Devon Conway and Marcus Stoinis

Washington Freedom: Steve Smith, Lockie Ferguson, Glenn Maxwell, Marco Jansen, Rachin Ravindra and Jack Edwards