Unicorns Come Off Second Best in MLC Championship Game
The San Francisco Unicorns ended the second MLC season with a loss in the Championship match to Washington Freedom. Having won the toss in front of a packed Grand Prairie crowd, Unicorns’ skipper Corey Anderson elected to field, putting faith in his team’s ability to chase on what looked like a good scoring wicket.
Carmi le Roux opened the bowling to Travis Head and Steve Smith, with the former setting his stall out early punishing two wide balls to the boundary. His stay was short-lived though, with Pat Cummins getting Head to swipe across the line, only to take a thick edge which Finn Allen eventually took at first slip.
Andries Gous took the Australian quick on in the fourth over with three more boundaries, including the game’s first six smashed over deep square leg. Hassan Khan bowled the final over of the powerplay, going for back-to-back fours off Smith, before forcing Gous, 21 off 14, into a slice which was taken cleanly by Allen at long off.
Carmi le Roux bowled out in the ninth over, with Smith smashing consecutive sixes and Rachin Ravindra top edging it for four off his last. Haris Rauf took his first wicket of the game in the eleventh over, flattening Ravindra’s wicket for 11 off 9, before Smith passed his half century later in the over with a single down to third man.
Freedom kicked on in the thirteenth and fourteenth overs, with Smith and new batsman Glenn Maxwell taking Juanoy Drysdale for 28 runs and then another 16 off Hassan Khan. The two continued in impressive fashion before Cummins made the breakthrough, getting his compatriot Smith to spoon one up to Inglis behind the stumps for 88 off 52 balls.
Drysdale recovered well to take the wicket of Glenn Maxwell next over for a rapid fire 40, before the Washington side finished the innings on 207/5, leaving the Unicorns a challenging chase of 208 to win their first ever Major League Cricket title.
The San Francisco side opened their innings with 11 runs off Marco Jansen, with Finn Allen top edging two fours over short third man. Jake Fraser-McGurk then chopped onto the same bowler in the third over, leading to a flurry of wickets and the Unicorns now chasing the game.
Sanjay Krishnamurthi sent a routine catch to Travis Head off Saurabh Netravalkar, before Allen also played on in the fifth over, leaving the Unicorns on 40/3 after the powerplay.
Sherfane Rutherford sent a short one from Glenn Maxwell to deep square leg for four runs, and two more wickets dropped in the next over from Andrew Tye, with Josh Inglis first to go for 18, soon followed by captain Anderson for a duck.
Pat Cummins clubbed two sixes off Ravindra before being trapped next ball for a seven ball 13, with Hassan Khan following a similar pattern to be caught for 13 off six. The Unicorns eventually lost their final wicket for 111 in the 16th over, with Drysdale bowled by Ravindra for five, and the team falling at the final hurdle in the MLC Championship game.
Hassan Khan, one of the Unicorns’ breakout players, was named Domestic Player of the Tournament, after a strong all-round showing with valuable economy with the ball and some immense power hitting in the middle.
Brief Scores: San Francisco Unicorns, 111 all out (Carmi le Roux, 20*; Rachin Ravindra, 3/23) lost to Washington Freedom, 207/5 (Steve Smith, 88; Pat Cummins, 2/35) by 96 runs
