Cricket Highlights, 16 July: MLC 2023 (Match 04) – San Francisco Unicorns vs Seattle Orcas

San Francisco Unicorns vs Seattle Orcas (Match 04) – Highlights

Seattle Orcas thrashed San Francisco Unicorns by 35 runs in the 6th match of Major League Cricket (MLC) 2023 at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas on Sunday. With this victory, Wayne Parnell’s team has registered wins in both matches after playing two matches in the season.

After winning the toss and batting first, Seattle Orcas collected a challenging score of 177 runs, losing 4 wickets in the allocated 20 Overs. The task seemed easy for the opponents, San Francisco Unicorns. But Aaron Finch’s team could not chase down this target.  

The San Francisco Unicorns’ middle-order batting line-up collapsed while chasing the target set by the Seattle Orcas. Finch’s team could not turn around from that. In the end, the innings of San Francisco Unicorns ended up scoring 142 runs in 17.5 overs. Also, they have got one win and faced one defeat in two matches that they’ve played in the tournament so far.

The two openers of San Francisco Unicorns, Finn Allen, and Matthew Wade, got off to a good start chasing the runs. They picked up 42 runs in 3.2 overs together. With the help of 4 fours and 2 sixes, Allen returned to the dressing room by scoring 28 runs alone in 10 balls. On the other hand, another opener Wade (28 runs from 16 balls) left the wicket in the last ball of the 5th over.  

However, their departure did not affect the team’s run rate. As a result, they lost two wickets in 6 overs of power play and picked up 67 runs. But Marcus Stoinis and Finch mainly put the team under pressure. Because both returned to the pavilion with a team total of 86 runs. Where Stoinis scored 15 off 20 balls and Finch scored 14 runs off 16 balls.

After that, Corey Anderson and Shadab Khan continued to lead the team to victory, who played two brilliant innings in the previous match. But Cameron Gannon’s aggressive bowling didn’t allow the two devastating batsmen from settling on the wicket. Anderson returned with 12 runs off 10 balls. On the other hand, Shadab scored the highest 37 runs off 23 balls for the team. Where they hit equal numbers of two fours and sixes each.

But after that, no other batter could survive the wicket due to the bowling canon of Seattle Orcas’ bowlers. In the end, the innings of the San Francisco Unicorns stopped when they were 36 runs away from victory. Cameron Gannon picked up the highest number of 4 wickets for Seattle Orcas with 23 runs. Apart from that, Imad Wasim and Andrew Tye took 2 wickets and Harmeet Singh picked up 1 wicket.  

Earlier, the Seattle Orcas got off to a great start coming down to bat first. They lost 2 wickets in 6 overs of power play and picked up 53 runs. But then Shehan Jayasuriya and Heinrich Klaasen put up a great partnership of 47 runs off 30 balls. Jayasuriya returned to the dressing room with 33 off 27 balls, but Klaasen returned to the pavilion making a half-century.

Klaasen scored 53 runs off 31 balls hitting 4 fours and 3 sixes. In addition, Shimron Hetmyer remained unbeaten on 36 runs off 30 balls and Shubham Ranjane remained unbeaten on 10 runs off 6 balls. Liam Plunkett took the maximum number of 2 wickets for the San Francisco Unicorns. Besides, Corey Anderson and Haris Rauf seized 1 wicket each.

San Francisco Unicorns vs Seattle Orcas Scoreboard

Seattle Orcas – 177/4 (20.0)

San Francisco Unicorns – 142/10 (17.5)

Result – Seattle Orcas won by 35 runs

Player of the match – Heinrich Klaasen

Heinrich Klaasen

San Francisco Unicorns vs Seattle Orcas Playing Xis