A remarkable half-century from Matthew Short followed by a solid performance from the bowlers helped San Francisco Unicorns beat Seattle Orcas by 23 runs in the 13th match of the 2024 Cognizant Major League Cricket at Church Street Park, Morrisville on Monday.
After Short’s 32-ball 56 took San Francisco Unicorn to 165/7, Liam Plunkett’s Man of the Match performance of 3/26 with the ball restricted Seattle Orcas to 142/6 in the chase.
The victory was San Francisco Unicorn’s second of the season as the Seattle Orcas suffered their third loss.
Openers Shehan Jayasuriya and Ryan Rickelton provided a flying start to the Seattle Orcas, as they amassed as many as 54 runs in the Powerplay. Jayasuriya hammered 18 runs, including three fours, in Haris Rauf’s first over, putting the Orcas in a strong position by the end of the first six overs.
Rickelton, who scored 29 off 21 balls, was dismissed by Plunkett in the ninth over, and Quinton de Kock fell cheaply to Short in the following over. Jayasuriya, on the other hand, brought up his half-century in 35 balls, but was dismissed by Pat Cummins in the 11th over.
The San Francisco Unicorns made a strong comeback with three wickets in three overs. They continued their momentum with back-to-back wickets in the 13th and 14th overs. Aaron Jones was caught and bowled by Plunkett, while Corey Anderson removed Heinrich Klaasen, leaving the Seattle Orcas struggling at 103/5, with 63 runs required in the final six overs.
Harmeet Singh and Hammad Azam then approached cautiously. They added 30 off 21, but the Unicorns struck again as Harmeet tried to slog on Plunket’s last ball of his spell. Rauf and Cummins then bowled exceptional final two overs to ensure a clinical win for their team.
Earlier in the day, the San Francisco Unicorns were invited to bat first. They faced an early setback as Jake Fraser-McGurk (11 off 10) was bowled by Imad Wasim in the third over. Matthew Short and Fin Allen then took control of the game, as they exploited a wicket that offered good bounce and pace. The duo scored more than 10 runs per over, constructing a commanding partnership of 75 runs off 40 balls.
Allen scored a fiery cameo of 34 off 18 balls before falling to Wasim in the 9th over. By the halfway mark, the Unicorns were cruising at 106/2 and looked set for a big total.
However, Short’s (56 off 32) dismissal in the first ball of the 11th over swayed the momentum towards Seattle Orcas. The ball that had come on nicely in the first half of the innings, started behaving differently in the second, as Seattle Orcas made a comeback to contain the Unicorns, taking wickets in quick intervals. Corey Anderson (5 off 11) was dismissed by Cameron Gannon in the 13th over, followed by Josh Inglis (8 off 8) in the next over, by Harmeet Singh.
With the Unicorns struggling at 122/5 after 14 overs, Hassan Khan and Sanjay Krishnamurthi forged a crucial partnership, adding 31 runs off 27 balls to reach the 150-run mark in the 18th over. However, Khan (10 off 13) was dismissed in the same over by Gannon, who finished his spell with impressive figures of 3/26. Meanwhile, Krishnamurthi played a vital cameo of 30 off 21 balls to help the San Francisco Unicorns post a total of 165/7 in their 20 overs.
Brief Scores: San Francisco Unicorns (Matthew Short 56 off 32, Finn Allen 34 off 18, Cameron Gannon 3/26) beat Seattle Orcas (Shehan Jayasuriya 54 off 37, Ryan Rickelton 29 off 21, Liam Plunkett 3/26) by 23 runs.
