San Francisco Unicorns Edge Out Texas Super Kings to Make Championship Game
The San Francisco Unicorns defended a 200 total to win a tense Challenger match against the Texas Super Kings and earn a spot against Washington Freedom in Major League Cricket 2024’s Championship match.
Having been put into bat first by the Super Kings’ captain Faf du Plessis, the Unicorns came out firing in the first couple of overs with Finn Allen hitting back-to-back fours off Zia-ul-Haq in the opener, with three boundaries following off Marcus Stoinis in the second.
Jake Fraser-McGurk calmly rotated the strike throughout the powerplay, giving the more fluent Allen chance to take on the Texas bowling attack, before hitting a six of his own to take the Unicorns to 56 for no loss after the first six.
The breakthrough for Super Kings came in the seventh over with Noor Ahmad sending down a googly to Fraser-McGurk which he mistimed to Aaron Hardie at long off. Sanjay Krishnamurthi joined Allen at the crease only to be gone two balls later, with an Ahmad ball pinballing off a thick inside edge and then his pads before the stumps lit up.
Josh Inglis and Allen coupled smart running with regular boundaries to keep the rate up in the following overs, with the Unicorns passing 100 in the eleventh, with Allen quickly following for his own century – and the franchise’s first ever – with two sixes in the fourteenth over off Mohammad Mohsin, before being bowled fourth ball for what would be a match-winning 101 off 53 balls.
The Unicorns struggled to kick on in the closing stages of their innings as smarter bowling and changing conditions limited the damage. Josh Inglis eventually holed out to Marcus Stoinis for 37 and Hassan Khan provided another valuable cameo to end unbeaten on 27, with the San Francisco-side posting what looked like a good, but not out of reach, score of 200.
Texas Super Kings’ Devon Conway and Faf du Plessis had been imperious in the MLC to date, and it was business as usual during the early overs of the powerplay with the opening pair posting a 50 partnership from the first four overs, albeit with the latter benefiting from drops off consecutive Pat Cummins balls.
Du Plessis’ luck ran out in the fifth, with Corey Anderson leading from the front in the field, taking a magnificent catch at mid off, leaping backwards to take a one-handed grab to remove the dangerman for 45. Aaron Hardie followed his captain in to post 19 runs, before losing his wicket to Juanoy Drysdale in the eighth over.
Milind Kumar fell to form all-rounder Hassan Khan in the next, before Drysdale took another crucial wicket in Stoinis for just one run after a handy catch at mid wicket from Khan. While still around the required run rate, the Super Kings regular loss of wickets had left them on 91/4 after 11 overs and outsiders for the chase.
Devon Conway remained at the crease however, and accompanied by Joshua Tromp, they dragged momentum back gradually in the second half of the innings, leaving a gettable target of 29 runs for 12 balls. This became 18 from the final six, with Pat Cummins guiding the Unicorns home with an economical final over that strangled the Super Kings to only ones and twos, and a final total of 190/4, ten short of their required total.
San Francisco Unicorns will meet Washington Freedom for the third time in three matches in the Championship match on Sunday, 28 July at the Grand Prairie Stadium, nr Dallas, TX.
Brief Scores: San Francisco Unicorns, 200/6 (Finn Allen, 101; Noor Ahmad, 3/27) beat Texas Super Kings, 190/4 (Devon Conway, 62*; Juanoy Drysdale, 2/33) by 10 runs
