Seattle Orcas, who finished last in the MLC 2024 points standings, were declared eliminated following San Francisco Unicorns’ convincing victory, which was fueled by Finn Allen. It assured Texas Super Kings a place in the top four and secured a top-two finish for the Unicorns.
Against a target of 153, Allen’s aggressive 30-ball 77 opened up the chase and helped the Unicorns reach home with 34 balls remaining. The Unicorns scored 79 points by the end of the powerplay, with Allen scoring 59 of those points. Allen kept pushing the envelope during a powerplay phase full of boundaries. In an 18-run over, Matthew Short, his partner, struck two sixes off Cameron Gannon to set the tone early. By tearing into Lungi Ngidi in a 26-run over and sprinkling boundaries around the midwicket region, Allen escalated the situation. After giving up just six runs in his opening over, Keemo Paul took the brunt, going for 16 as Allen reached a 21-ball 50.
Harmeet Singh eventually put an end to the mayhem in the eighth over when he caught Allen at long on, but the damage was already done. After that, the Unicorns went through with ease.
The Orcas had lost both of their openers, Ryan Rickleton and Aaron Jones, for first-ball ducks in the first over of the game earlier in the day after being put in to bat. Rickleton was initially edging ahead, but Carmi le Roux pulled the ball back in to trap Jones right in front of the Orcas, shocking them to no end.
But Shehan Jayasuriya and Quinton de Kock combined for 97 runs for the third wicket to turn the innings around. Before being caught by pacer Brody Couch for a massive hit, De Kock scored the most, scoring 62 off 33 balls. Soon after, Couch was forced to leave with an injury, unable to finish that over, which worried the Unicorns. Once again putting the Orcas in trouble, skipper Corey Anderson came on and, as fate would have it, struck with his second ball as Jayasuriya carried on.
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As Heinrich Klaasen was caught at sweeper cover off an edge by left-arm spinner Hassan Khan in the opening ball, the innings took a turn for the worst. Then, in his next over, Khan tightened the screws by taking two wickets in a row, bringing Harmeet Singh and Keemo Paul back. The Orcas passed 150 runs thanks to a 36-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Shubham Ranjane and Imad Wasim, but the Allen-led assault destroyed the innings.
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