Marco Jansen and Rachin Ravindra took 3 wickets each as San Francisco Unicorns were bundled out for 111 in 16 overs. Andrew Tye chipped in with 2 wickets in one over. Earlier, captain Steven Smith‘s 52-ball 88 and Glenn Maxwell‘s 22-ball 40 powered Washington Freedom to 207/5 against San Francisco Unicorns, after being put into bat. Smith and Maxwell added 83 runs off just 40 balls for the fourth wicket.
AS IT HAPPENED
Chasing 208, San Francisco Unicorns had a shaky start as Jake Fraser-McGurk succumbed first. Sanjay Krishnamurthy and Finn Allen couldn’t stitch a partnership and got sent back in a span of one over. Sherfane Rutherford, Josh Inglis, and Corey Anderson too couldn’t make any significant impact and played rash shots to throw their wickets away. Those three could only get 23 runs on the board.
The Unicorns slipped from 30/1 in 3.4 overs to 53/6 in 8.3 overs. That period was the one where the game slipped out completely from their hands. Pat Cummins came in and played some lusty blows along with Hassan Khan but the curtains were already drawn for their side. It was then onto the bowlers who tried to free their arms before being cleaned up for 111 in 16 overs.
Marco Jansen started off extremely well for Washington Freedom with an early wicket. Saurabh Netravalkar soon followed up in his second over. Jansen got rid of the dangerous Finn Allen as well to put his team in a strong spot.
Glenn Maxwell, Rachin Ravindra, and Andrew Tye worked in tandem to take 4 wickets in 3 overs. Jansen got rid of Hassan Khan and that left them with the bowlers to deal with. Rachin Ravindra did the cleaning up towards the end and sealed a win for them.
Ravindra was the pick of the bowlers for his spell of 4-0-23-3 along with Marco Jansen with his spell of 4-1-28-3. Andrew Tye clinched two while Glenn Maxwell and Saurabh Netravalkar, who is the leading wicket-taker in this tournament ended his season with one to his name.
Earlier, the positive intent from Washington Freedom’s batters at the top was there to be seen for all with Travis Head looking to play aerially and not getting the occasion get big on him. Steven Smith was struggling a bit in the beginning but once he got going there was no stopping him.
Smith smashed the bowlers left, right, and center and played a sipper’s knock of 88 runs in just 52 balls. Smith first with Gous and then with Maxwell formed two solid partnerships. Smith and Maxwell scored 83 together in the blink of an eye as they got these runs in just 39 balls.
At one point 215 looked possible but the wicket of Smith and Maxwell in quick succession at the death overs meant they wouldn’t reach there. A late surge from Mukhtar Ahmed helped them get past the 200-run mark in the big showdown game.
All San Francisco Unicorns bowlers went for aplenty and their skipper Corey Anderson wouldn’t have expected to chase this when he chose to field after winning the toss. Pat Cummins was a class apart and only he had an economy under 10 in this game and took two as well while barring Carmi le Roux, who went wicketless, everybody chipped in with a wicket of their own.