Rachin Ravindra’s all-round bowling performance and Travis Head’s fifth straight fifty powered Washington Freedom to the final of the Major League Cricket 2024 season with a seven-wicket win over San Francisco Unicorns in the Qualifier at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Thursday.
Rachin Ravindra once again recorded career-best figures in T20 cricket, picking up 4/11 as Marco Jansen finished with 3/46 from four overs to bowl out the Unicorns for 145. Hassan Khan was the pick of the batters for SFU scoring 57 off 36 balls.
In reply, Head top-scored in the match with an unbeaten 77 off just 44 balls, his highest score this season, as we raced to 149/3 with 27 balls to spare. The Aussie opener hit 10 fours and three sixes during his knock, his fifth consecutive fifty in MLC 2024.
Glenn Maxwell also smashed 54 off just 23 balls to take us into our first final of the MLC. He smashed five sixes and four boundaries to complete a comprehensive win for us.
Bowling first, Jansen struck with the third ball of the innings to dismiss Finn Allen, caught safely by wicketkeeper Andries Gous. Saurabh Netravalkar was right on the money as ever, sending back Jake Fraser-McGurk after constantly frustrating him with dot balls. Jansen picked up another wicket off the last ball of the powerplay as SFU slid to 49/3. The spin pair of Ravindra and Glenn Maxwell kept things tight as only 26 runs came in the next six overs with SFU losing two more wickets.
After attaining some stability, the SFU innings suffered once again as Jansen accounted for Anderson to get his third dismissal of the night. The last five wickets fell for just 18 runs as they closed out in 145.
Chasing 146, Travis Head carted three sixes and two fours off Carmi le Roux as we got past the fifty-run mark at the end of the powerplay.
Head coasted to his half-century off just 28 balls in the 10th over as Maxwell shifted gears soon after with back-to-back sixes off Hassan. Maxwell put on a show as he took apart the SFU bowling attack with his power and panache reaching his fifty in only 22 balls. The Aussie scored 46 of his total runs in boundaries.
Maxwell and Head added an unbroken 85 runs in just 40 balls for the fourth wicket to make light work of the chase. Maxwell looked in a hurry as he closed the match in style with a four off pacer Haris Rauf. Hassan Khan picked up two wickets for the SFU.
With the win, we proceed to the final of MLC 2024 to be played at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Sunday.
Washington Freedom vs San Francisco Unicorns MLC 2024 brief scores: SFU 145/10 in 19 overs (Hassan Khan 57, Corey Anderson 26, Rachin Ravindra 4/11, Marco Jansen 3/46) vs WF 149/3 in 15.3 overs (Travis Head 77*, Glenn Maxwell 54*, Hassan Khan 2/32).
Washington Freedom won by seven wickets.
