Orcas eliminated, Unicorns guaranteed of top-two finish

Seattle Orcas, placed bottom on the points table of MLC 2024, were officially eliminated after San Francisco Unicorns registered a comprehensive win powered by Finn Allen. It ensured a top-two finish for the Unicorns and also guaranteed Texas Super Kings of a spot in the top four.

Set a target of 153, the Unicorns got home with 34 balls to spare thanks to Allen's belligerent 30-ball 77 that threw open the chase. By the end of the powerplay, the Unicorns had put on 79 with Allen himself contributing 59. In a boundary-laden powerplay phase, Allen kept upping the ante. His partner Matthew Short set the tone initially with a couple of sixes off Cameron Gannon in an 18-run over. Allen took it further when he tore into Lungi Ngidi in a 26-run over peppering the midwicket area with boundaries. Keemo Paul, who had given away only six runs in his first over, bore the brunt next as he went for 16 as Allen brought up a 21-ball 50.

The carnage eventually came to an end when Harmeet Singh had Allen caught at long on in the eighth over but the damage had already been done. The Unicorns cruised through after that.

Earlier in the day, after being put in to bat, the Orcas had got off to a horror start as they lost both their openers Ryan Rickleton and Aaron Jones for first-ball ducks in the opening over of the match. Carmi le Roux first had Rickleton edging behind and then brought the ball back in to trap Jones plumb in front leaving the Orcas shell-shocked.

However, Quinton de Kock and Shehan Jayasuriya brought the innings back on track with a 97-run stand for the third wicket. De Kock top-scored with a 33-ball 62 before pacer Brody Couch had him skying a big hit. The Unicorns were left concerned soon after as Couch was forced to walk off with an injury, unable to complete that over. Skipper Corey Anderson brought himself on and as luck would have it, he struck with his second ball as Jayasuriya dragged on leaving the Orcas in a spot of bother once again.

The innings took a turn for the worse as Heinrich Klaasen was snapped up first-ball by left-arm spinner Hassan Khan, having him caught at sweeper cover off an edge. Khan then tightened the screws with back-to-back wickets in his next over, sending back both Harmeet Singh and Keemo Paul. The innings was salvaged thanks to a 36-run stand for the eighth wicket between Shubham Ranjane and Imad Wasim as the Orcas went past 150, only for it to be blown away by the Allen-led onslaught.

Brief Scores:Seattle Orcas 152/7 (Quinton de Kock 62; Hassan Khan 3-5) lost to San Francisco Unicorns 156/4 (Finn Allen 77) by 6 wickets