Steve Smith played a captain’s innings and Marco Jansen shone with the ball as Washington Freedom won the Major League Cricket 2024 trophy with a 96-run win over San Francisco Unicorns in the Final at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Sunday.

Smith top-scored in the contest with 88 from 52 balls to power us to 207/5. His scintillating knock was filled with six sixes and seven fours. Glenn Maxwell also supported well with a 22-ball 40.

Jansen was the star of our defense as we dismissed the Unicorns for 111 with four overs to spare. The left-arm pacer finished with impressive figures of 3/28, while Rachin Ravindra also picked up a three-wicket haul as we secured our first MLC title.

Batting first, Andries Gous and Smith steadied the ship after Travis Head departed, ending the powerplay at 49/2. After a quiet start, Smith broke the shackles, smashing consecutive sixes in the ninth over and reaching his fifty in just 34 balls a couple of overs later.

Smith, along with Maxwell, hit top gear, amassing 44 runs in just two overs, including four sixes and two fours. The Aussie duo added 83 runs in just 39 balls before Smith was out, having recorded the highest individual score for us in MLC. Maxwell’s entertaining display featured four sixes and one four.

We reached the highest aggregate in MLC 2024, thanks to cameos from Mukhtar Ahmed and Obus Pienaar. For the Unicorns, Pat Cummins picked up 2/35 in four overs.

In response, Jansen struck twice in two overs and Saurabh Netravalkar picked up one as we restricted them to 40/3 after the first six overs. Soon, the Unicorns were six down after Andre Tye’s double-wicket over.

The Unicorns’ innings folded out after 16 overs to trigger celebrations on and off the field. Tye finished with two wickets as Netravalkar and Maxwell picked up one apiece to cap off an all-round bowling performance.

Washington Freedom vs San Francisco Unicorns MLC 2024 brief scores: WF 207/5 in 20 overs (Steve Smith 88, Glenn Maxwell 40, Pat Cummins 2/35, Haris Rauf 1/41) vs SFU 111 in 16 overs (Carmi le Roux 20, Josh Inglis 18, Rachin Ravindra 3/23, Marco Jansen 3/28).

Washington Freedom won by 96 runs.