Washington Freedom lost to San Francisco Unicorns by six wickets in their rain-shortened final league stage match of the Major League Cricket 2024 season at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Monday.

Travis Head and captain Steve Smith jointly top-scored for us as we reached 174/3 in 15.3 overs before rain prematurely ended our batting essay. Smith scored 56 off 31 balls and his knock was laden with four sixes and five fours. Whereas Head hit three sixes and five boundaries for his 36-ball 56, his fourth straight fifty in the competition.

Chasing a revised target of 177 in 14 overs, the San Francisco Unicorns got to the target in just 13.4 overs. Sanjay Krishnamurthi remained unbeaten on 79 off 42 balls for SFU while Josh Inglis hit 45 from 17 balls.

Meanwhile, Andrew Tye finished as the top wicket-taker in the match with figures of 3/41.

Batting first, Head and Smith did what they have done throughout the season, by providing us a rollicking start. Smith took the role of the aggressor smashing three sixes and five fours in the powerplay as we raced to 70/0 after the first six overs, the fourth fifty-plus stand for the Aussies together this season.

Smith powered to a 25-ball fifty in the eighth over and soon the duo got to our first 100-run partnership in the history of MLC before the skipper departed. Head shifted gears to get to his half-century in just 34 balls continuing his purple patch this season.

Rachin Ravindra and Andries Gous kept the scoring rate high with an entertaining partnership of 33 off only 15 balls. Just as we were looking to go past the 200-run mark for the second consecutive game, rain halted proceedings, cutting short our batting essay with 27 balls remaining.

Akeal Hosein gave us a great start after the rain delay, striking with the first ball of the chase to send back Finn Allen. Andrew Tye dismissed the big fish, Jake Fraser-McGurk, leaving both openers back in the hut by the fifth over with the score at 45.

The experienced Tye brought us back into the match with two wickets in an over after Krishnamurthi and Inglis added 77 runs in just 30 balls for the third wicket. In the end, the San Francisco Unicorns chased down the target with two balls to spare.

Hassan Khan contributed a cameo of 32 from 11 balls, while Krishnamurthi remained unbeaten on 79. Apart from Tye, Hosein picked up 1/39 from his three overs.

However, the result had no bearing on the points table of MLC 2024 as we finished on top with 11 points from seven games after all our group engagements. 

We will meet the San Francisco Unicorns again in the Qualifier of MLC 2024 at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Thursday.

Washington Freedom vs San Francisco Unicorns MLC 2024 brief scores: WF 174/3 in 15.3 overs (Steve Smith 56, Travis Head 56, Corey Anderson 2/20) vs SFU 177/4 in 13.4 overs (Sanjay Krishnamurthi 79*, Josh Inglis 45, Andrew Tye 3/41, Akeal Hosein 1/39). 

Washington Freedom lost by six wickets by DLS method.