Lockie Ferguson's splendid spell with the ball powered Washington Freedom to a five-wicket win against Seattle Orcas in their Major League Cricket 2024 match at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Thursday.
Player of the Match, Ferguson registered match-winning figures of 4/26 in four overs to skittle out SO for 124, while Saurabh Netravalkar also impressed, picking up three wickets. SO skipper Heinrich Klaasen top-scored in the contest with 51 off 30 balls.
In response, Lahiru Milantha played a sensible innings to anchor our chase with an unbeaten 30-ball 33, as we reached 127/5 with more than an over remaining. Obus Pienaar also chipped in with an unbeaten 31 off 30 balls.
Netravalkar justified skipper Steve Smith’s decision to bowl first by striking in his first over. Ferguson picked up a wicket in the powerplay, as SO managed 35/2 after the first six overs, with only 16 runs coming from boundaries.
We kept things tight even after the powerplay with Ferguson knocking Quinton de Kock for his second wicket of the match. Smith was in action as he ran out Shubham Ranjane with an excellent fielding effort to break a crucial partnership.
Marco Jansen dismissed dangerman Heinrich Klaasen, who had just reached his half-century and looked in fine touch. Ferguson returned for a double strike in his final over to end his spell with four scalps and Seattle Orcas were all-out with two balls to spare.
Netravalkar rose to the top of the bowling charts of MLC 2024, picking up his eighth wicket of the tournament. The left-arm pacer finished with an incisive spell of 3/18.
Chasing 125, Rachin Ravindra, playing his first match in the MLC, got us off to a quick start, hitting 26 off just 16 balls, which included two sixes and three fours. We reached 47 for the loss of three wickets at the end of the powerplay.
From 64/5, Milantha and Pienaar put their heads down to build a crucial partnership to wrest the initiative back from SO. Their unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 63 runs from 55 balls helped us cross the line as we remained the only team to be unbeaten in the MLC this year.
With the win, we moved to the top of the MLC 2024 points table with five points from three matches.
We will meet the Los Angeles Knight Riders in our next match at Church Street Park in Morrisville on Sunday.
Seattle Orcas vs Washington Freedom MLC 2024 brief scores: SO 124 in 19.4 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 51, Quinton de Kock 24, Lockie Ferguson 4/26, Saurabh Netravalkar 3/18) vs WF 127/5 in 18.2 overs (Lahiru Milantha 33*, Obus Pienaar 31*, Nandre Burger 2/27, Harmeet Singh 1/15)
Washington Freedom won by five wickets.