Washington Freedom bounce back in style with dominant win over Seattle Orcas

Reigning champions Washington Freedom rode on an all-round team performance to defeat the Seattle Orcas by five wickets, securing their first win of the ongoing Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 season at the Oakland Coliseum in California on Saturday.

Star pacer Ian Holland stole the limelight with a sensational spell of 4/19, helping us restrict the Orcas to 145/9 in their 20 overs.

In response, Rachin Ravindra (44), captain Glenn Maxwell (38*), and Mitchell Owen (25) played significant knocks as Freedom chased down the target in just 13.3 overs to secure two crucial points.

After the Orcas opted to bat first, Jack Edwards gave us the first breakthrough in the sixth over, dismissing David Warner to break their 60-run opening partnership.

Mitchell Owen soon joined the party by removing opening batter Kyle Mayers in the following over.

Our bowlers continued to chip away with crucial scalps - Holland dismissed opposition skipper Heinrich Klaasen, and Edwards soon sent Steven Taylor back to reduce the Orcas to 95/4.

In the 14th over, Holland struck twice in succession, removing Aaron Jones and Harmeet Singh to leave the Orcas struggling at 110/6.

He capped off his brilliant spell by dismissing Cameron Gannon to finish with figures of 4/19 in his four-over quota.

Owen later inflicted a stunning run-out of Jasdeep Singh in the 18th over to put us in a commanding position.

Our debutant, Abhishek Paradkar, picked up his maiden MLC wicket by removing Sikandar Raza on the final delivery of the innings, restricting the Orcas to 145/9.

Chasing 146, our opening pair of Owen and Ravindra got us off to a flying start. They played some exquisite shots en route to a blazing 49-run partnership before Owen departed after a quick-fire 11-ball 25.

Ravindra, alongside wicketkeeper-batter Andries Gous, kept the momentum going with a flurry of fours and sixes. The duo took Gannon for 20 runs in the sixth over, powering us to 90/1 - our highest powerplay score in MLC history.

However, we suffered a brief setback as both Gous and Ravindra fell in quick succession.

Captain Maxwell then led from the front, finishing unbeaten on 38 off just 20 balls to guide us to a comfortable five-wicket win with 6.3 overs to spare, despite the middle-order departures of Glenn Phillips and Edwards.

Maxwell’s match-winning knock included three fours and three sixes.

For his game-changing performance, Holland was adjudged Player of the Match.

“I’ve come into a group with so much international experience, and with the coaches we have, I’m truly grateful for the opportunity,” Holland said at the post-match presentation.

With this dominant win in the bag, we now shift focus to continuing the momentum against the Los Angeles Knight Riders at the Oakland Coliseum on Tuesday.

Seattle Orcas vs Washington Freedom, MLC 2025, brief scores: SO 145/9 in 20 overs (David Warner 31, Kyle Mayers 27; Ian Holland 4/19) lost to WF 149/5 in 13.3 overs (Rachin Ravindra 44, Glenn Maxwell 38 not out; Waqar Salamkheil 2/27) by 5 wickets.