RECORD-BREAKING ALLEN INNINGS LEADS SAN FRANCISCO UNICORNS TO WIN ON HOME SOIL

San Francisco Unicorns 269/5, (Finn Allen, 151; Hassan Khan, 38) beat Washington Freedom, 146 all out (Rachin Ravindra, 41; Haris Rauf, 30/3) by 123 runs

The San Francisco Unicorns put on a show for the Bay Area crowd in a landmark first Major League Cricket fixture at the Oakland Coliseum, scoring a record-breaking 269 thanks to a supercharged innings of 151 by Finn Allen, which featured the most sixes ever scored in a professional T20 innings, in beating Washington Freedom by 123 runs.

With Unicorns’ ambassador and actor Kunal Nayyar supporting from the stands, it took just five balls for the innings’ big bang moment when Kiwi batsman Allen ramped Ben Sears over fine leg for six, followed up by a boundary next ball to give the home fans a taste of what was to come.

Opening alongside fellow countryman and new signing Tim Seifert, who took a quickfire 18 off 10 balls before miscuing to Glenn Maxwell, Allen powered the home team to 65 from the first five overs. With the Unicorns motoring, Jake Fraser-McGurk’s edge behind off USA international Saurabh Netravalkar only fired the crowd up by bringing local hero Sanjay Krishnamurthi to the crease.

A breakout star in 2024, Krishnamurthi showed he was up to the task, hitting Rachin Ravindra for three consecutive sixes, with Finn Allen also continuing to cause havoc when at bat in the famed baseball stadium. The 11th over saw the Freedom change it up by taking the pace off with Glenn Phillips given the ball, with the experiment not paying off with 20 runs coming from it.

With the 150 up in the next over, Krishnamurthi and Allen kept the tempo high before the former found opposing captain Maxwell on the boundary for an impressive 36 from 20 from an Ian Holland slower ball, bringing debutant and Australian multi-format international Cooper Connolly into the game. Allen continued to impress with regular sixes around the ground’s upper tiers, taking a single to bring up his second MLC century, and the fastest in the league’s history from 34 balls.

Connolly was bowled hitting out off Edwards soon after for five, with Hassan Khan in at the other end to witness Finn Allen break the all-time record for sixes in a T20 innings. Finally out for 151 off 51 balls, his job was done, with Khan and captain Corey Anderson leading the team home to another record MLC innings score of 269.

Mitchell Owen set about chasing a daunting 270 with back-to-back boundaries from Carmi Le Roux’s first two balls, before hitting the first six of the Freedom innings over the side screen in Xavier Bartlett’s inaugural MLC over. Joined at the other end by all-rounder Ravindra, the pair strung eight consecutive boundaries together, including five sixes in a row, to remarkably stay clearly ahead of the rate required at 63 for no loss after four overs.

With Haris Rauf brought into the attack, the Washington blitz continued, with a spilled caught-and-bowled opportunity giving the dangerous Ravindra an extra life before Anderson brought the experienced Liam Plunkett in from the other end. The move paid off two balls later, with a cross-seam delivery seeing Fraser-McGurk take an impressive boundary catch to end Ravindra’s innings on 42.

Glenn Maxwell came to the crease in the seventh after a serious communication error  saw Mitchell Owen run-out for 39 runs, with Rauf repenting for the previous drop with a smart throw to Seifert at the stumps.The Pakistani paceman then struck twice in the next over, trapping the Australian captain in front LBW before clean bowling Glenn Phillips for a duck.

USA international Andries Gous came and went, caught by Bartlett swiping a flighted Khan delivery, before the spinner ended Jack Edwards lively innings of 21 from seven. Le Roux aided the Freedom collapse, taking Obus Pienaar’s edge and then Mukhtar in a similar fashion in the same over.

The tail of Ian Holland and Netravalkar were dismissed by Khan and Rauf respectively, quickly distinguishing the Freedom innings for a final defeat by 123 runs, giving the Unicorns a first win at the Coliseum, where they’ll return to play the LA Knight Riders in the ‘California Clash’ in two days time.

San Francisco Unicorns 269/5, (Finn Allen, 151; Hassan Khan, 38) beat Washington Freedom, 146 all out (Rachin Ravindra, 41; Haris Rauf, 30/3) by 123 runs