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OAKLAND: Finn Allen played a fiery 151-run knock to power San Francisco Unicorns to a thumping victory over Washington Freedom in the opening match of the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 at the Oakland Coliseum here on Thursday.
Washington Freedom skipper Glenn Maxwell invited the Unicorns to bat first after the coin flipped in his favour.
Jack Edwards provided the first breakthrough to defending champions as he dismissed Tim Seifert (18) in the third over.
Jake Fraser-McGurk (6) came out to bat and was involved in a one-sided 37-run stand with Allen before falling prey to Saurabh Netravalkar.
Allen was joined by Sanjay Krishnamurthi, and together they turned the game on its head, smashing 88 runs off 37 balls for the third-wicket partnership.
Krishnamurthi played a 36-run knock from 20 balls with the help of 1 four and four consecutive sixes against Rachin Ravindra. He was removed by Ian Holland in the 12th over with 153 runs on the board.
Allen maintained his aggressive approach and scored his century in just 34 balls, making it the fastest century in MLC history.
He didn’t stop there; he also reached 150 runs in 49 balls, hitting his 19th six of the innings. This achievement set a new record for the most sixes in a single innings.
Mitchell Owen finally ended Allen’s fiery knock, getting him out on 151 on the first ball of the 18th over.
Hassan Khan then played a quick-fire cameo of 38*, laced with three fours and three sixes, to take the team’s total to 269-5 in their allocated 20 overs.
Washington Freedom’s bowling card was topped by Jack Edwards, who returned with figures of 2-39, while Netravalkar, Owen and Holland chipped in with one wicket each.
While chasing a mammoth target, Mitchell Owen and Rachin Ravindra put together an impressive 80-run opening partnership off just 32 balls, setting the stage for an exciting match.
Unfortunately, both batters were dismissed in consecutive overs, causing the Freedom to lose momentum in their run chase.
Liam Plunkett dismissed the dangerous Ravindra in the sixth over; Ravindra scored 42 runs off 17 balls, hitting two fours and five sixes.
In the following over, Owen, who contributed 39 runs from 20 balls, was run out, leaving the team struggling at 97-2 in 6.4 overs.
Washington Freedom failed to recover from this, losing six wickets in three overs and falling to 117 for 8 in just 9.5 overs.
Haris Rauf took two crucial wickets in the eighth over, dismissing Glenn Maxwell for 5 runs and Glenn Phillips for a duck, which worsened Freedom’s situation.
In the following over, Hassan Khan then continued the onslaught by getting rid of Andries Gous for 2 runs and Jack Edwards for 21 runs in the next over.
Meanwhile, Carmi le Roux claimed the wickets of Obus Pienaar (2) and Mukhtar Ahmed (1) to further dent any chances of recovery.
Rauf and Khan added one wicket each to their tally as they bundled Washington Freedom for a meagre 146, handing a 123-run victory to San Francisco Unicorns.
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