Owen’s fifer, Phillips’ fifty guide Washington Freedom to sixth straight win

Defending champions Washington Freedom marched into the Cognizant Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 Playoffs after registering a 12-run win over San Francisco Unicorns at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Saturday.

With our sixth consecutive victory, we became the second team to qualify for the MLC 2025 Playoffs and are currently placed second in the standings with 12 points from seven games.

Opting to bat first, we rode on Glenn Phillips’ fighting fifty (58), along with crucial contributions from Jack Edwards (42), Obus Pienaar (30*) and Mukhtar Ahmed (17*) to post 169/6 in our 20 overs.

Later, all-rounder Mitchell Owen bagged a five-wicket haul to help us restrict the Unicorns to 157/9 in their allotted overs to guide us to a comfortable win in our final game in Dallas.

Earlier, we were off to a challenging start as in-form Mitchell Owen and wicketkeeper-batter Andries Gous were dismissed in the opening over.

Rachin Ravindra then slammed Brody Couch to register the first boundary of the innings, before the southpaw departed.

Captain Glenn Maxwell got off the mark with a first-ball six as he clobbered Couch on a free-hit, and Jack Edwards later smacked him for another maximum to accumulate 17 runs in the fourth over.

However, we suffered another huge blow as Maxwell fell in the following over.

Batting at No.6, Glenn Phillips joined Edwards at the crease at 30/4. The duo stitched a crucial 71-run partnership to steady the ship. Looking to up the ante, Edwards was dismissed in the 16th over after a run-a-ball 42, which included one four and two sixes.

Phillips continued his impressive knock as he smashed pacer Haris Rauf for a six to notch up his fifty off 36 balls. He later fell for a 39-ball 58, laced with two fours and three sixes.

In the final few overs, Obus Pienaar and Mukhtar Ahmed hit a few lusty blows as they forged an unbeaten 37-run stand off just 16 balls to power us to 169/6.

Defending 169, Amila Aponso broke the opening partnership as he cleaned up Finn Allen to end a 51-run stand in the sixth over.

Ravindra soon joined the party as he castled Jake Fraser-McGurk to reduce the Unicorns to 56/2.

Later, in the 11th over, Owen provided us with the much-needed breakthrough as he removed the opposition captain, Matthew Short.

Owen soon dismissed Hassan Khan and Romario Shepherd in consecutive deliveries in the 13th over, which brought us right back into the game.

Our bowlers continued to pick up wickets at regular intervals as Edwards got the better of Bartlett, while Ian Holland sent Sanjay Krishnamurthi back into the pavilion.

In the penultimate over, Owen removed Rauf and Couch in back-to-back deliveries to finish with figures of 3-0-17-5 and guide us to a comfortable win in the end.

For his match-defining spell, Owen claimed the Player of the Match award in Dallas.

“It has been a really good season, personally losses bring out the best in guys learning. We will touch on a couple of things in a few days' time,” Owen said at the post-match presentation.

Having secured our Playoffs qualification, we will aim to continue the winning momentum against the Texas Super Kings at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground in Lauderhill, Florida on Wednesday.

Washington Freedom vs San Francisco Unicorns, MLC 2025, brief scores: WF 169/6 in 20 overs (Glenn Phillips 58, Jack Edwards 42; Xavier Bartlett 4/32) beat SFU 157/9 in 20 overs (Matthew Short 67, Jahmar Hamilton 31; Mitchell Owen 5/17) by 12 runs.