Unbeaten Washington Freedom seal Top 2 finish

Washington Freedom comfortably beat the Texas Super Kings by 42 runs. Freedom skipper Steve Smith, chose to bat first on a used pitch, with both teams bringing in a spinner as turn was expected. Travis Head (53), who came into the game with two half-centuries continued his merry form with another fifty. He took a liking to Zia-ul-Haq and Marcus Stoinis in the third and fourth over smashing them for 15 and 22 runs respectively. He got to his 50 off just 20 balls. Freedom managed to bring up 50 within four overs, and this forced Super Kings skipper, Faf du Plessis to bring on Noor Ahmad. He struck gold immediately and dismissed Head who was induced by a tossed-up delivery, the slog sweep resulting in a simple catch at deep-midwicket.

The Super Kings picked up two wickets in the next two overs with Andries Gous trapped in front by Dwayne Bravo off a full delivery while Rachin Ravindra was caught by Noor off his own bowling. With wickets tumbling regularly, Glenn Maxwell and Smith rotated the strike for a few overs with the odd boundary setting up a strong finish.

Maxwell was castled by Noor resulting in Obus Pienaar who came in and played a blistering cameo of 33 off 21 deliveries. Smith played the perfect anchor role through the carnage at the other end and brought up his fifty in the 18th over. Pienaar finished off the innings with two maximums off Stoinis in the final over taking the Freedom past the 200-run mark.

In reply, the Super Kings too looked to be aggressive in the Powerplay, with in-form batters Devon Conway and Faf du Plessis. The two saw out the first two overs, and took 15 runs off Jansen in the third over. The move to bring in Maxwell in the fourth over worked wonders for Freedom who immediately had Conway trapped in front. With an asking rate of more than 10 from the get-go, du Plessis took charge against Amila Aponso hitting three sixes and a four with 22 off the over. Super Kings had raced to 76-1 in the Powerplay. du Plessis brought up his fifty off just 19 balls in the 7th over.

Freedom managed to pull things back with some quiet overs, while also removing Aaron Hardie who was rushed onto the pull and Joshua Tromp who holed out to long off as a result of the pressure built. Jasdeep Singh who was asked to replace Saurabh Netravalkar as he was away on paternity leave, got the big fish of Faf du Plessis, deceived by a slower ball outside off which was hit straight to long-off.

Things got worse after Milind Kumar, Marcus Stoinis and Dwayne Bravo were dismissed cheaply. Jasdeep Singh was one of the pick off the bowlers with 3 for 25 in his 4 overs. Calvin Savage (35) tried his best for TSK to take it deep but had run out of partners at the other end. Rachin Ravindra came back in the last over picking up two wickets, four in total on the day for him and sealing a convincing 42 run victory for his side.

Brief Scores: Washington Freedom 206/5 in 20 overs (Steven Smith 57, Travis Head 53; Noor Ahmad 3-38, Dwayne Bravo 2-40) beat Texas Super Kings 164-10 in 19.5 overs (Faf du Plessis 55, Calvin Savage 35; Rachin Ravindra 4-16, Jasdeep Singh 3-25) by 42 runs

What Next: Both teams end their league stage campaign with Freedom facing San Francisco Unicorns (July 22)and Texas Super Kings take on bottom placed Seattle Orcas (July 23). The Super Kings need to win their final game to be assured of qualification into the playoffs.