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The third game of the inaugural MLC edition kicked off between Washington Freedom and Seattle Orcas on July 15. Grand Prairie Cricket Ground was the venue that hosted this fascinating contest. match.
Seattle Orcas put on a splendid show with the ball by restricting Washington to just 144. Wayne Parnell and Harmeet Singh were the pick of the bowlers sharing four wickets between them.
Imad Wasim was brilliant with the ball and with the bat later on in the innings. He only conceded 19 in his four overs spell and picked up a wicket. Other bowlers including Cameron Gannon and AJ Tye picked up a wicket each and kept the scoring rate down. From Washington’s point of view, Moises Henriques and Akeal Hosen made valuable contributions of 24 (19) and 33 (22) respectively to drag Washington to a respectable total of 144-7.
Seattle got off to a wobbly start. Key players featuring Quinton de Kock, Shehan Jayasuriya, and Heinrich Klaasen were back in the hut in no time. With pressure mounting, Wasim and Nauman Anwar stitched a match-reviving stand of 53 runs for the fourth wicket to bring them closer to the finishing line.
Wasim was adjudged Player of the Match for his match-winning performance of 43* (38) and 1/19.
Glenn Phillips (WAF)
Glenn Phillips played a well-controlled innings of 20 (13) which included three fours and a six. His strike rate was in the mid-150’s and was tackling the Seattle bowlers very well. Sadly, he could not go on to post a big score and was dismissed by Gannon in the fifth over.
Marco Jansen (WAF)
The lanky pacer, Marco Jansen made some contributions with the bat and the ball. He added eight runs to Washington’s impoverished total before being cleaned up by Harmeet Singh. The tall South African quick bowler bowled brilliantly with the new ball. But in the second spell, he started leaking a few runs. He ended the game with figures of 1/30.
Anrich Nortje (WAF)
Anrich Nortje didn’t get a chance to bat but bowled some fiery thunderbolts with the ball. He achieved an impressive economy rate of 7.25 RPO and breached through the defense of his countryman, Quinton De Kock.
Akeal Hosein (WAF)
Akeal Hosein played a vital role with the bat to lift his side to a defendable first-innings score of 144. He played a quickfire cameo of 33 (22) at a strike rate of 150. He did well with the ball to pick up a wicket in his three overs and conceding 20 runs.
Imad Wasim (SEO)
Wasim’s all-round effort with the bat and the ball won the day for Seattle Orcas. He bowled a tidy spell of 1/19 in four overs and conceded just a single boundary. Wasim played a very sensible knock under pressure to get his side over the finishing line. He scored 43*, which involved three fours and a six.
Moises Henriques (WAF)
The Washington Freedom skipper had a very impactful outing in the franchise’s first game in the inaugural MLC edition. He scored a valiant knock of 24 (19) when the chips were down and built a useful partnership with Andries Gous to add impetus to the innings.
Henriques also had quite an impact with the ball when he dismissed the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen cheaply throwing the game wide open. He finished the game with very impressive figures of 1/8 off two overs.
Quinton de Kock (SEO)
De Kock could not accelerate further and fell for 10 runs after being bowled over by Nortje in the last ball of the sixth over. In his short innings, he smashes one four and a six at a strike rate of 90.9.
Heinrich Klaasen
It was a day to forget for Klaasen as he was castled by a peach of a delivery from Henriques during the 8th over. He was dismissed on 1, which pushed his side further in a spot of bother. He will certainly rue the rash shot selection against Moses as he completely missed the straighter one.
Shimron Hetmyer
Hetmyer played a valuable innings of 23 (19). He stitched a crucial partnership with Wasim and comfortably got them over the finishing line with two balls to spare. He was eventually dismissed by Jansen in the last over whilst trying to up the ante.
Wayne Parnell
Parnell erred on the higher side conceding runs at almost 10 RPO. However, he did justice to his wickets column by picking up the wickets of Mukhtar Ahmed and Obus Pienaar. However, he did not get a chance to participate with the ball in today’s game.
Andrew Tye
AJ Tye was very tidy with the ball registering figures of 1/26 off four overs while going at just around 6.5 RPO.
Note: Domestic players playing for the USA team have not been featured in the article
