Heinrich Klaasen played a fantastic innings of 53 with 31 balls to help the Seattle Orcas defeat the San Francisco Unicorns by 35 runs in Game Four of Major League Cricket at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Saturday. The Orcas went 177/4 in their 20 overs before defeating the San Francisco Unicorns by 142 runs in 18 overs.
SEATTLE ORCAS
The Seattle Orcas won the toss, choosing to bat first. The Orcas didn’t get off to the best start, losing the wicket of explosive opener Quinton de Kock (9) in the first two overs.
Nauman Anwar and Shehan Jayasuriya stabilized the ship with a partnership that allowed them to break the 50-run mark on the first power play. However, Anwar’s (30) wicket fell right at the end of the first power play.
Heinrich Klaasen came to bat and together with Jayasuriya built a great partnership that allowed the orcas to reach 100 runs. Immediately afterwards, Jayasuriya (33) lost his wicket as he was unable to build on his good start.
However, Klaasen got into his attacking style along with Shimron Hetmyer and allowed the Orcas to surpass the 150 run mark. Shortly thereafter, Klaasen (53) lost his wicket after a crucial half-century.
Hetmyer (36) and Shubham Ranjane (10) continued the attack on the Unicorns as they struggled to contain the West Indian batter in the final overs of the inning in which the Orcas scored 177 runs while losing 4 wickets of theirs 20 overs. For the San Francisco Unicorns, it was Liam Plunkett who took two wickets, while Haris Rauf and Corey Anderson each took one wicket.
San Francisco Unicorns
Unicorns openers Matthew Wade and Finn Allen gave their team a solid start into the second innings. After hitting 42 runs in the first three overs, Finn Allen lost his wicket (28) and soon followed Wade (28) back into the pavilion.
Thereafter, the Unicorns periodically lost wickets and struggled to get back into the game. Marcus Stoinis (15), Aaron Finch (14) and Corey Anderson (12) lost their wickets cheaply meaning the Unicorns had lost five wickets by the 14th over.
Pakistani all-rounder Shadab Khan gave the Unicorns hope with a late counterattack but was unsupported from the other end as Tajinder Singh (1), Chaitanya Bishnoi (1) and Liam Plunkett (2) didn’t cause much trouble for the scorers.
Shadab Khan (37) put on a brave performance but failed to pull the Unicorns across the finish line as his wicket in the 18th over secured the Orcas victory. As the Unicorns’ innings wound down, Carmi le Roux came out for a duck, they were thrown out for 142 runs with two overs to go.
Cameron Gannon was the star for the Orcas with the bowl as he conceded four wickets, Andrew Tye and Imad Wasim each contributed two wickets while Harmeet Singh also conceded one.
