
Challenger Game Beckons for Unicorns After Freedom Loss
The Unicorns fell to defeat in their Qualifier match against the Washington Freedom, leaving them to face Texas Super Kings for a final shot at making the Championship game.
Facing the Freedom for the second time in a row at the Grand Prairie Stadium, the Unicorns were put into bat first by Steve Smith on a fresh pitch that might offer something to bowlers early on.
Finn Allen started in his usual aggressive manner, playing a commanding stroke over mid-on off Marco Jansen for a no ball four off the first ball, only to edge behind to the wicketkeeper three balls later for six. On form batsman Sanjay Krishnamurthi joined Jake Fraser-McGurk at the crease, with the pair struggling for consistency but maintaining the rate for three overs before the latter guided one to slip for 11 from a Saurabh Netravalkar delivery.
Josh Inglis, following a strong partnership in the last match with Krishnamurthi, couldn’t repeat his theatrics, going six and bowled for a brief cameo at the end of the powerplay of eight from seven balls.
Krishnamurthi was trapped in front for 19 the following over, leaving the middle order exposed in their aim to steer the Unicorns to a defendable total. Sherfane Rutherford fell in the eleventh over for six from nine, before captain Corey Anderson and Hassan Khan led a charge of sixes to take the total to 127 before Anderson fell to Jansen for 26 off 19.
Fan favourite Pat Cummins skied one next over to Pienaar at deep mid-wicket for one off Netravalkar, before Rachin Ravindra rattled through the tail, removing Haris Rauf for two and Carmi le Roux for a duck. Juanoy Drysdale’s first time at the crease for the Unicorns saw him tasked with getting Khan on strike, and in doing so allowed the all-rounder to smash a 102m six over long on before a smart stumping on 57 runs left a total of 146 for Freedom to chase.
An economical first over for Carmi le Roux and a wicket first ball for Pat Cummins, who took the prize scalp of Steve Smith for just one after the faintest edge was successfully reviewed, left the game in the balance after two overs. Travis Head went on the charge in the next, hitting three consecutive boundaries off le Roux, before a valuable maiden over from Pat Cummins in the fourth halted the momentum.
Freedom finished the powerplay on 52/1 in a comfortable position though, and despite losing Andries Gous for nine and Rachin Ravindra for three, Head remained well set and looking dangerous. Now partnered by Glenn Maxwell, the two Australians went on a rampage, smashing regular boundaries around the ground before taking the Freedom over the line with 27 balls to spare. Head finished on 77 off 44, recording his fifth half century in a row, with Maxwell also unbeaten on 54 off 23.
Washington Freedom now progress directly to Sunday’s Championship game, while the Unicorns will face the Texas Super Kings in the Challenger game tonight (July 27) for a second shot at making the final match of 2024’s Major League Cricket.
Brief Scores: San Francisco Unicorns, 145 all out (Hassan Khan, 57; Rachin Ravindra, 4/11) lost to Washington Freedom, 149/3 (Travis Head, 77*; Glenn Maxwell, 54*) by 7 wickets
