Team Performances:
The San Francisco Unicorns are the run-away leaders of the tournament, with five wins on the bounce, they are well placed to make the knockouts, yet to lose a game this season.
They lost Corey Anderson, their captain, to injury, but Matthew Short has come in to replace him and done a brilliant job, having struck two rapid fifties in his two games. It has been a massive group effort from the Unicorns.
With Short, Allen, Khan and Fraser-McGurk the contributors with bat, while Khan, Rauf and Bartlett have been brilliant with the ball.
The Orcas are in a spot of bother, four losses straight, the road back looks tough, but they know, two wins gets them right back into the battle for the fourth spot with the top three running away this season.
Their only fifty so far this season has come from Kyle Mayers and would hope the others look to stand-up as the Orcas look to battle.
Form Guide:
- San Francisco Unicorns: WWWWW
- Seattle Orcas: LLLLL
Players to watch out for:
- Matthew Short – leading from the front, the Captain has 152 runs in two games, with two fifties so far, Short has hit the ground running immediately for the Unicorns.
- Xavier Bartlett – 9 wickets in five games, Bartlett has bowled with fire, taking a wicket for 17.66 runs each and his batting ability, with 59 runs in two innings striking at 218.51 an absolute bonus.
- Jake Fraser-McGurk – the Australian has performed well after a tough time, 196 runs in five innings, at 39.2, he has struck at 194.05 this tournament.
- Kyle Mayers – the only player from the Orcas to have shown some signs of form this season, Mayers has 129 runs in four games, averaging 32.25 and striking at 161.25.
- Finn Allen – while he missed out on their last game, Allen still remains the highest scorer in this edition for the MLC, he has scored 294 runs at 73.5, with a hundred and two fifties in just four games.
Playing XIs:
San Francisco Unicorns (probable): Matthew Short ©, Tim Seifert (WK), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Romario Shepherd, Hassan Khan, Karima Gore, Xavier Bartlett, Liam Plunkett, Haris Rauf, Brody Couch.
Seattle Orcas (probable): Shayan Jahangir (WK), David Warner, Aaron Jones, Kyle Mayers, Heinrich Klaasen ©, Shimron Hetmyer, Sikandar Raza, Gerald Coetzee, Harmeet Singh, Jasdeep Singh, Cameron Gannon.
Pitch Conditions (Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas):
Average 1st Innings Score:
- 2023 – 167.41
- 2024 – 167.81
- 2025 – 204.16
Bowling Averages and Economy Rates:
- Fast Bowlers – Average – 28.78; Economy Rate – 8.82.
- Spin Bowlers – Average – 28.33; Economy Rate – 8.04.
Wickets Percentage based on Innings:
- Team Win Percentage when Batting First – 40.74%
- Team Win Percentage when Batting Second – 59.26%
Wickets Per Innings:
- First Innings – 6.62 wickets
- Second Innings – 5.48 wickets
Wickets per Phase:
- Powerplay (Overs 1–6): 1.50 wickets
- Middle Overs (Overs 7–15): 2.32 wickets
- Death Overs (Overs 16–20): 2.19 wickets
Batting remains an easy prospect in the middle overs at Dallas, with wickets falling only once every 30 balls here in most games, teams would look to go quickly from the outset with batting remaining easier in the middle and this is evident with the average scores from this season.
Pacers and Spinners have gone toe-to-toe in their performances at Texas, but in the larger scheme of things, both have struggled with the batters having the best of them out here.
Match Predictions:
- Top Batters: Matt Short, Shayan Jahangir, Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk.
- Top Bowlers: Haris Rauf, Obed McCoy and Xavier Bartlett.
- Match Winner: San Francisco Unicorns.
