Cricket Highlights, 25 July: MLC 2023 (Match 14) – San Francisco Unicorns vs Texas Super Kings

San Francisco Unicorns vs Texas Super Kings (Match 14) – Highlights

Texas Super Kings have pulled off an incredible 3-wicket victory over San Francisco Unicorns in the 14th match of Major Cricket League (MCL) 2023. As a result of this victory, they’ve confirmed the qualifiers as the third team of the tournament with three wins playing five matches. On the other hand, San Francisco Unicorns are still in contention for the qualifiers after winning two matches.

After winning the toss and batting first, the San Francisco Unicorns collected 171 runs after losing 8 wickets at the end of the scheduled 20 overs. In reply, the Texas Super Kings reached the port of victory with five balls remaining after losing 7 wickets.

However, all-rounder Daniel Sams played a key role in the team’s victory. He first took two wickets with the ball and then with the bat, he played a devastating innings of 42 runs from 18 balls to win the game for Texas Super Kings with three wickets in hand. Thanks to this great performance, he was selected as the player of the match.

Earlier, the bowlers of Texas Super Kings did not make a good start after losing the toss and fielding first. The batters of San Francisco Unicorns scored 52 runs after losing two wickets in 6 overs of power play. Opener Finn Allen scored 4 and Marcus Stoinis returned to the dressing room getting 13 runs. 

In the 11th over, another opener Matthew Wade also departed for the team’s 85 runs. He scored 49 runs off 30 balls hitting 4 fours and 3 sixes. After that, Shadab Khan and Corey Anderson tried to take the helm of the team. But these two in-form batsmen failed to score runs in this match. Shadab scored 20 runs from 23 balls and Anderson was out for 14 runs from 15 balls.

Chaitanya Bishnoi and skipper Aaron Finch continued to try to get the team back on track as the San Francisco Unicorns were struggling at the loss of 5 wickets for 116 runs. Due to this, the team collected 55 runs in the last 28 balls. Finch scored 19 off 10 balls and Bishnoi returned to the pavilion with a blistering innings of 35 off 21 balls.  

For Los Angeles Knight Riders, Gerald Coetzee took the highest number of 4 wickets with 31 runs in 4 overs. Besides, Daniel Sams and Mitchell Santner took 2 wickets each.

Chasing the challenging target of 172 runs, the batsmen of Texas Super Kings stumbled at the beginning. Captain Faf du Plessis returned to the dugout with zero runs on the 2nd ball of the innings. Then another batsman Cody Chetty (4) departed in the 2nd over. As a result, losing two wickets in the team’s 11 runs, the batters of Texas Super Kings fell into some danger.

From there, wicket-keeper batsmen Devon Conway and Milind Kumar kept trying to bring the team back into the match. Conway bounced back with an efficient innings of 30 off 27 balls, but Milind returned to the pavilion with a half-century to take the team to the brink of victory.

Earlier, the dismissals of David Miller (10) and Santner (7) left the team score at 92/5. At that time, it seemed that the Texas Super Kings would not be able to back in this match. But Sams turned the match when he came to the wicket. In the 6th wicket, Milind and Sams put on an impeccable partnership of 70 runs off 26 balls. Where Milind scored 52 runs in 42 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes.

On the other hand, Sams returned to the pavilion after playing a match-winning innings of 42 runs off 18 balls smashing 2 fours and 4 sixes. Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan took the maximum number of 2 wickets each while Carmi le Roux, Liam Plunkett, and Marcus Stoinis picked up 1 wicket each for the Unicorns.

San Francisco Unicorns vs Texas Super Kings Scoreboard

San Francisco Unicorns – 171/8 (20.0)

Texas Super Kings – 172/7 (19.1)

Result – Texas Super Kings won by 3 wickets

Player of the match – Daniel Sams

Daniel Sams

San Francisco Unicorns vs Texas Super Kings Playing Xis