The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
That was it from our side! Owing to technical issues from the live stream, we are not able to provide quotes of Heinrich Klaasen. But we will do it all again soon. This is Dwaipayan Mukherjee , signing off with Darpan Tikiya as we touch 5AM in the morning here in India. See you!
Corey Anderson (San Francisco Unicorns) : Pat is a world class player. He has played against the best players in the world for a long-time. Great to have him in our group, brings in a lot to our side. I think we will look to win every game here. We will go to Dallas and see what works for us, make our strategies accordingly and proceed. We are excited to see what the future holds for us.
Liam Plunkett (Man of the Match) : Yeah, the way we batted in the powerplay told us that after the first 6 overs, if you have your variations in place and execute them well, there was an area where we could exploit and pose problems.
Matthew Short (San Fransisco Unicorns): (On his batting) It was nice. The idea was to attack at the top. We have the backing of our coaches to be aggressive at the top of the order when the ball is hard and the field is up. (On his bowling) The wicket was probably in my favour. Some balls were spinning, some were skidding. Happy to get through those overs without much damage. Its a short tournament. We have been a little bit unlucky with the rain. Looking forward to playing in Dallas.
San Francisco Unicorns (165 for 7) defeat Seattle Orcas (142 for 6) by 23 runs
Shehan Jayasuriya - 54 (37) | Ryan Rickelton - 29 (21) Liam Plunkett - 3/26 | Matthew Short - 1/15
Unicorns will be very happy with their efforts specially considering how this chase began in the comfort zone for Ryan Rickelton when he came out with his new opening partner - Shehan Jayasuriya at the start of this chase. Matt Short sent down the 2nd over of the innings, a decision which might have been driven by the fact that both openers were left handers and his right arm off spin turns it away from the batters.
The tall Aussie did not take long in ensuring he troubles the batters as a LBW shout got a nod from the umpire, only for the decision to get overturned successfully by the batters.
It was a watchful start by the Orcas. There was a break of rhythm with the blow to Le Roux in the 3rd over. But this was the best opening stand for Orcas in this season - after stands of 1, 17 and 6 in the first 3 games. Only 22 runs came in the first 4 overs and then Cummins was introduced to MLC cricket with a six first ball by Ryan Rickelton, a single next ball and a reverse scoop over the head of keeper Josh Inglis in the 3rd ball.
Haris Rauf was introduced in the last over of the power play and he was met with another reverse scoop by Jayasuriya, who followed it up with a smashing stroke through the cover region, a maximum and another boundary as that over leaked 18 runs and Orcas ended the first six overs with 54 for none with 8 fours and 2 sixes. The Sri Lankan did the majority of hitting. 32 runs came from the 5th and 6th overs combined.
The 76 run opening stand was dislodged when Plunkett knocked over Rickelton with a roll of his fingers on this slowish surface that rewarded change in pace bowling. De Kock came and went as Matt Short won the battle of match ups.
This got captain Heinrich Klaasen in the middle at the brink of the halfway point where Orcas stood at 81 for 2. Shehan got his 11th half-century in what was a fantastic innings on his return to the side. His strike rate was top drawer for an opener in this kind of a chase. There was a phase of 23 balls where even the Orcas did not score a boundary and it was Cummins who scalped his wicket eventually.
There was a gradual decrease in the scoring rate and when Corey Anderson picked up his opposite number Heinrich Klaasen in what was the 5th wicket to fall in the chase - it began to look like Unicorns were in a better place to go on and win the match.
The impetus never came at the back end of the innings where Unicorns kept denting the Orcas with cheap overs and regular strikes as they defended the target on a surface which slowed down considerably, making shots a difficult task to execute. Corey Anderson stepped in as the left arm seamer and did a profound job. The pacers combined well in the end to ensure that they take 2 points from this game.
20
overs
142/6score
0
1
1
0
1
1
runs
Hammad Azam*
16(14)
Cameron Gannon
6(11)
Haris Rauf
0/30
19.6 Haris Rauf to Hammad Azam, slower ball on the off stump. Azam works it to deep midwicket and jogs a single. But there is no spring in his step as he knows that his team has lost the battle. On the other side, the Unicorns have wide grins on their faces and they celebrate with high fives.
19.5 Haris Rauf to Cameron Gannon, ON PACE YORKER! Gannon somehow jams the bat down and gets it away to mid-off. One run.
19.4 Haris Rauf to Cameron Gannon, off cutter on a length. Gannon looks to drag it towards the on side but the ball spins back in to cut him in half.
19.3 Haris Rauf to Hammad Azam, length ball outside off. The batter throws his hands at it without moving the front leg. Runs one as sweeper cover cleans up.