Matt Short Finn Allen

San Francisco Unicorns Confirm Qualifier Spot in Win Over Seattle Orcas

San Francisco Unicorns confirmed a top two spot in the 2024 Major League Cricket after a crushing win in their second match against West Coast rivals Seattle Orcas, chasing down a total of 152 with 34 balls to spare.

Finn Allen smashed a rapid 77 in the chase, to add to star performances from Carmi le Roux, who took the prize wicket of Ryan Rickleton in the first ball of the match, and Hassan Khan, who ended with figures of 3/5.

Having won the toss, Corey Anderson’s Unicorns took to the field on a used wicket which had started to offer some turn and variable bounce in recent games. The call looked a smart one with Carmi le Roux taking the wickets of Rickleton and Aaron Jones in just the first and third balls of the match, bringing Shehan Jayasuriya and Quinton de Kock to the crease at 1/2.

The pair settled in quickly and started to propel the Orcas back into contention, with de Kock smashing four fours off Couch in the fifth over and Matt Short for back-to-back boundaries the over after. Various bowling changes couldn’t unsettle the pair until the eleventh over, when Couch returned with a slower ball that de Kock could only loft to Anderson at cover, leaving the Orcas well-recovered on 98/2, but the South African back in the dugout for 62.

The next ball Couch looked to tweak a muscle in his delivery stride, with the Unicorns’ captain Anderson stepping in mid-over once again to bowl the remainder. The bad luck quickly turned into celebration though, with Anderson removing Jayasuriya for 31 to steer the momentum back to the San Francisco side.

Seattle Orcas lost their next wicket to Hassan Khan’s first ball of the match, with dangerman Heinrich Klaasen caught on the boundary for eight runs. Khan followed up with two more scalps in his next over, removing Harmeet Singh and Keemo Paul to leave him with bowling figures of three wickets for just five runs.

Restrictive death bowling from Pat Cummins in his last two overs limited the Orcas tail, with the Unicorns set a target of 153 to win and clinch a place in the Qualifier with a game to spare.

A steady first couple of overs for the opening pair of Finn Allen and Matt Short came to life in the third, with the latter pulling Cameron Gannon for consecutive sixes. Allen pushed on against Lungi Ngidi and Keemo Paul later in the power play, plundering the South African for 26 runs in the fifth and smashing the West Indian for 16 straight after.

The loss of Short’s wicket for 19 just after the power play triggered Allen to kick on once again, hitting Harmeet Singh for two big sixes, only to be caught on the boundary soon after for a quickfire 77 off just 30 balls, which would also earn him the MVP award.

Josh Inglis and Sanjay Krishnamurthi steered the Unicorns to 124/2 before the latter was caught one-handed from a superb leap by Shehan Jayasuriya at cover. Sherfane Rutherford offered a quick cameo of 17 runs before being caught and bowled by Gannon, but by this time, the writing was on the wall, with wicketkeeper Inglis finishing the chase in style with a slog sweep for six off Sign in the fifteenth over.

The comfortable win gives the Unicorns the two points they needed to clinch a top two position and a place in the Qualifier game, to be played against the Washington Freedom next week. Seattle Orca’s slim hopes of landing a playoff spot were distinguished at the Grand Prairie Stadium with one match still to come.

Brief Scores: San Francisco Unicorns, 156/4 (Finn Allen, 77; Harmeet Singh, 2/39) beat Seattle Orcas, 152/7 (Quinton de Kock, 62; Hassan Khan, 3/5) by 6 wickets

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