UNICORNS EDGE TEXAS SUPER KINGS IN LAST-BALL THRILLER
San Francisco Unicorns, 148/6 (M Short, 80; M Stoinis, 3/32) beat Texas Super Kings, 147/7 (D Ferreira, 39; B Couch, 26/2) by 1 run
The San Francisco Unicorns took a major step towards a top two finish and Qualifier game appearance with a last-ball victory over Texas Super Kings when defending a winning chase of 149 on the last ball at the County Broward Stadium, near Fort Lauderdale.
Following a forty minute rain delay, the Unicorns begun their innings under cloud and drizzle on what was expected to be a challenging pitch. Matt Short struggled to break the inner circle in the early stages, before Finn Allen (1) chipped one off his bat’s toe end to short midwicket to give the Super Kings and Nandre Burger the breakthrough.
The stilted Unicorns’ powerplay performance continued throughout, with Jake Fraser-McGurk losing his off stump for three to one that ripped from Akeal Hosein, and then Sanjay Krishnamurthi was out soon after for two, clipping a Marcus Stoinis ball on, leaving the league leaders in serious trouble on 25-3 after six overs.
With the skies clearing, optimism among Unicorns fans increased as their captain, as well as new batsman Hassan Khan, 40 from 25, forged a bright partnership of 69 runs through the middle overs which was ultimately ended when Khan flicked a pace off Stoinis delivery to the midwicket fielder.
Next over, with Romario Shepherd now in the middle, Unicorns’ captain Short brought up his half century, the fifth of his MLC 2025 campaign, but fluency remained absent for the league leaders despite the occasional maximum which nudged the total to something increasingly defendable.
Shepherd edged behind to Noor Ahmad for 13 to bring in debutant Hammad Azam (8*) alongside Matt Short, who holed out last ball of the innings after completing a commanding captain’s knock of 80 from 63, with the pair ultimately guiding the Unicorns to a final score of 148/6.
The Super Kings struggled in their early chase, with Faf du Plessis (1) finding the midwicket fielder in the second over of Brody Couch, who then drew Smit Patel’s edge in his next set of six. Marcus Stoinis went in the eighth over for 13 as Karima Gore lured him into a mistimed cut which went straight to Bartlett at backward point.
At the innings halfway point, the Unicorns begun to edge in front as favourites with the required rate rising to around ten an over, but crucially, the Orcas had both form and wickets in hand. That wicket advantage hung around until the death, other than Khan bowling Mukkamalla for 34, leaving the chasers needing 23 from the final 12 balls to win.
Romario Shepherd picked up the gauntlet, landing the two critical wickets of Donovon Ferreira for 39 and Shubham Ranjane, 28, in the penultimate over, with Bartlett left with the daunting task of defending 13 runs from the last. He was up to it. Despite leaking a four first ball, he closed out the innings going dot, one, one, four, and then crucially protected the final three runs last ball, with just a single coming from it with Calvin Savage also run out in vein.
The result puts the Unicorns back to winning ways and two points clear at the top of the MLC table, while also all but confirming their position in the playoff’s advantageous Qualifier game, with just one league game to come on July 6 against LA Knight Riders. Texas Super Kings, having already qualified for the playoffs, remain in second position and will have to depend on Washington Freedom results in their final two matches to learn their playoff destiny.
