MLC 2025 Match 16: San Francisco Unicorns continue unbeaten run against Seattle Orcas

The San Francisco Unicorns continued their 2025 Cognizant Major League Cricket (MLC) unbeaten run at the Grand Prairie Stadium, impressively defending 176 against the Seattle Orcas, who were bowled out after a promising start to succumb to a 32 run defeat.

Runrate

With rain threatening and a slightly delayed start, Orcas’ captain Heinrich Klaasen opted to field first, hoping the grey skies and early drizzle might offer something against the in-form Unicorns attack. The opening pair of Finn Allen, returning to the side after illness, and captain Matt Short looked to be coping with the conditions, plundering 14 off the first over, before paceman Gerald Coetzee made an early breakthrough, taking the prize wicket of Allen two balls in to the second over, when the Kiwi lofted a short one to David Warner at mid-off for two.

Jake Fraser-McGurk joined his compatriot Short in the middle, navigating the powerplay to leave the league leaders on 67-1 after six overs, with the pair laying a strong second wicket partnership of 64 before Fraser-McGurk holed out off Harmeet Singh for 34 from 21. The Unicorns’ captain then fell for 52 in the tenth, swiping to short third man, having made his third half-century in a row. New man Hassan Khan was trapped in the same over for one, and then Sanjay Krishnamurthi was bowled by Coetzee soon after for four, leaving the Unicorns’ in an unfamiliar position in this year’s MLC on 97-5.

Xavier Bartlett and Romario Shepherd brought some short-lived calm to the Unicorns innings, edging the team over 100, before Bartlett, the hero with the bat against MI New York three games back, mistimed a pull short to mid wicket for three in Coetzee’s last over. Unicorns’ debutant Jahmar Hamilton, starting in place of Tim Seifert, accompanied Shepherd through the coming three overs, before going LBW to Cameron Gannon for six.

Haris Rauf rotated the strike well with Shepherd, who survived a dropped catch when Klaasen fumbled a tough chance straight down the ground, with the pair negotiating the Unicorns into the last over, when Shepherd hit McCoy for three sixes before finding the boundary fielder on the last ball of the innings for 56, leaving the Unicorns on 176/8.

Carmi Le Roux and Bartlett took the new ball against Shayan Jahangir and David Warner, with the Orcas starting well, taking 29 off the first two overs and then moving onto 59 for no loss at the end of the powerplay. Shepherd came into the fold in the seventh, luring Jayinghir (40) to chop onto his stumps and bringing Kyle Mayers in.

Unicorns’ skipper Short made an immediate impact in the next, trapping Warner in front for 23, then clean bowling Mayers for a duck to turn the tide back towards the fielding side. Rauf added another wicket to his tally, putting down a short ball which Klaasen (7) pulled to Shepherd, taking a fine low catch to put the Unicorns back in control of the seesawing match.

Short and Shepherd restricted the Orcas well in the middle overs, leaving them behind the run rate with batsmen Shimron Hetmyer and Sujit Nayak under increasing pressure. Hetmyer took Couch on in the the thirteenth to release a 23-ball run without a boundary, but the chasing team lost another with Nayak hitting out to Short for 16, with Couch eventually claiming a fumbled catch at long off and leaving the captain on game-changing figures of 3-12.

The Orcas showed fight against Bartlett, taking 18 off the sixteenth, but Rauf struck back in the next; Coetzee going six and bowled, then Hetmyer (30) prodding to Short at extra cover, leaving the Orcas with a challenging rate and just three wickets in hand.

Sanjay Krishnamurthi then took a fine catch off of Shepherd on the boundary rope to end Harmeet Singh’s innings on one, with Rauf and Bartlett cleaning up the tail of Gannon and Jasdeep Singh in consecutive overs to end the Orca’s chase on 144 all out with ten balls remaining.

The fine all-round performances of Romario Shepherd and Matt Short, along with four wickets from the league’s leading wicket taker Haris Rauf continues the Unicorns’ winning streak, now standing at six. They remain at the top of the MLC table, with Seattle Orcas stuck to the bottom, still seeking their first win of the campaign. The Unicorns play their final game in Texas against Washington Freedom on Saturday, 28 June, before moving onto Fort Lauderdale to play their remaining three league matches.

Worm

Brief Scores: San Francisco Unicorns, 176/8 (R Shepherd, 56; H Singh, 3-22) beat Seattle Orcas, 144 all out (S Jahangir, 40; H Rauf, 4-32) by 32 runs

© Cricket World 2025

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