MORRISVILLE: Andre Russell’s swashbuckling 70-run knock went in vain as Washington Freedom edged Los Angeles Knight Riders by six wickets in the ninth match of the Major League Cricket (MLC).
Put into bat first, Andre Russell’s belligerent 70-run knock recovered LA Knight Riders to a commendable total of 175/7 in their quota of 20 overs.
The Knight Riders had a dismal start to their innings as their top four batters failed to score big and the side, consequently, slipped to 68/4 in the 11th over.
Coming out to bat number six, Russell launched a counterattack on the Freedom with a scintillating knock.
He baton charged the opposition’s bowlers amid his 86-run partnership with Rilee Rossouw. Russell dominated the fifth-wicket stand while the left-handed batter rotated the strike until his countrymate Marco Jansen got rid of him in the 19th over.
Rossouw scored an anchoring 41 off 30 deliveries, hitting four sixes.
The Knight Riders lost two more wickets in the span of six deliveries but their mainstay Russell carried his bat all the way through and made sure to steer his side to a defendable total.
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He top-scored for the Knight Riders with a brisk half-century. His 37-ball 70 featured six boundaries and six sixes.
Moises Henriques led the bowling attack for the Freedom with 3/26, followed by Jansen’s 2/29 while Akeal Hosein and Saurabh Netravalkar made one scalp each.
Set to chase 177, a combined effort from the batters scripted a comfortable victory for the Freedom, who accumulated 177/4 with 11 balls to spare.
Freedom openers played pivotal roles in their side’s triumph by laying a solid foundation for the pursuit with a quickfire 68-run partnership.
Wicketkeeper batter Andries Gous dominated the opening partnership with an astounding 15-ball 40 before perishing to Spencer Johnson in the sixth over. His knock featured five boundaries and two sixes.
His opening partner Matthew Short, on the other hand, played an anchoring knock and batted till the 13th over before walking back to the dugout with his side in command.
Short top-scored for the Freedom with 43 off 35 deliveries, smashing three boundaries and a six.
A sensible 41-run partnership for the fifth wicket between skipper Henriques (16) and Obus Pienaar (26) steered the Freedom to glory in the 19th over.
Following a comfortable six-wicket victory, Washington Freedom climbed up to the third in the MLC standings while winless LA Knight Riders remained at the bottom.
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