Unicorns triumph again to leave MINY in disarray as they still languish on 4th place in the 6-team points table.
Unicorns triumph again courtesy quick Short and McGurk fifties to stay unbeaten.
The San Francisco Unicorns crushed MI New York by 47 runs on Monday, extending their advantage at the top of the MLC 2025 table because to their hitting strength.
After chasing down 183 in the earlier game, it was their fourth 200-plus score in five games and kept them undefeated in the competition. Both Matthew Short and his countryman Jake Fraser-McGurk maintained their impressive run of play, scoring 246 for 4. beyond Michael Bracewell and Quinton de Kock dropped consecutive deliveries, MINY’s reply got off to a strong start but faltered as the asking rate skyrocketed beyond the halfway point.
Tim Seifert struggled to get off the blocks fast, but he powered to 63 for 0 in the powerplay. Short, who opened for Finn Allen, who was out due to sickness, continued to hammer the boundaries, with his casual straight sixes being one of the highlights of his 22-ball fifty. Short soon fell for 26 off 22.
Fraser-McGurk reached the 100-mark for Unicorns by smoking three sixes in the tenth over, which went for 26 runs, using his signature across-the-line swipes and pulls. Short chased Trent Boult for 19 runs in the 13th over after their fifty-run partnership ended after just 23 balls.
Although they were unable to match Unicorns’ six-hitting, which began at the end of the fifth over, De Kock and Monank Patel carried the most of the load for MINY at the top with a series of straight fours early on.
For MINY’s biggest opening stand, they nevertheless smashed 77 in the powerplay and sped past 100 in the ninth. However, Monank’s knock was stopped by Liam Plunkett, who dug a slower ball into the pitch that the batter miscued on the off side, scoring 60 off 33.
Nicholas Pooran, who was having a terrible run of form, kept having trouble scoring runs. The asking rate increased from around 12.50 an over to 17.60 by the time Pooran was caught behind off Haris Rauf, thanks to his partnership of 40 off 34 with de Kock. He faced 17 deliveries without striking a single boundary and failed to score at even a-run-a-ball.
Pollard was out as MINY now required 88 from 29 balls. However, their chances were severely damaged when Romario Shepherd took the dual wickets of de Kock and Bracewell at the beginning of the 17th over. Pollard displayed hints of his power-hitting, but Unicorn’s attack persisted.