Guided by Jake Fraser-McGurk’s impressive 38-ball 88, along with Xavier Bartlett’s four wickets, the San Francisco Unicorns achieved their second consecutive victory in MLC 2025. Once more, it was a decisive triumph, this time against the Los Angeles Knight Riders, who suffered a defeat by 32 runs in a high-scoring match in California.
Jake Fraser Mcgurk's charisma
Finn Allen achieved his second consecutive score exceeding 50 runs, Jake Fraser-McGurk made a strong return to form, and fast bowlers Xavier Bartlett and Haris Rauf each took four wickets, guiding the San Francisco Unicorns to their second consecutive victory in MLC 2025. The Unicorns set a total of over 200 runs for the second match in a row, following their record-setting score of 269 for 5 in the tournament’s opening match, which proved insurmountable for the Los Angeles Knight Riders, as only two of their batsmen managed to score more than 30 runs.
This time, it was Fraser-McGurk who spearheaded the Unicorns’ offensive with an impressive score of 88 runs from 38 balls, featuring 11 sixes and merely two fours. This performance followed a period where he had accumulated only 61 runs across his previous seven T20 innings, averaging a mere 8.71, which also saw him being omitted from the Delhi Capitals (DC) playing XI in the IPL. However, against LAKR, he and Allen combined to score 121 runs in just 55 balls for the second wicket, which included a powerplay total of 76 for 1. A standout moment during this phase was when Fraser-McGurk hit four consecutive sixes off Shadley van Schalkwyk in the fifth over, which yielded 25 runs. Following a rare seventh over without boundaries, yielding only four runs from Sunil Narine, and an additional seven runs in the subsequent over bowled by Jason Sangha, Fraser-McGurk and Allen resumed their aggressive batting until Allen was dismissed, caught at long-on off Narine, after scoring 52 runs from 27 balls.
Fraser-McGurk responded with three additional sixes in the 13th over after reaching his fifty in just 21 balls, before he too was dismissed, caught at mid-off by van Schalkwyk. The top order had established a strong foundation as the Unicorns were scoring at over 12 runs per over when Fraser-McGurk was out with the score at 167 and 39 balls remaining. Following his dismissal, the LAKR bowlers managed to regain control, resulting in the Unicorns losing four wickets and accumulating only 52 runs thereafter. They lost Hassan Khan, Corey Anderson, Bartlett, and Brody Couch within a span of three overs, which included a double-wicket over from Ali Khan. Rauf hit a six and a four in the final two overs, enabling them to surpass the 200-run mark and set a formidable target.
LAKR start their campaign with a defeat
The LAKR chase encountered setbacks early on, losing openers Andre Fletcher and Alex Hales within the first 21 balls. No. 3 Unmukt Chand maintained momentum with a half-century off 30 balls, helping the team reach 66 during the powerplay. However, he lost his partner Nitish Kumar in the eighth over to Hassan, which concluded a brisk partnership of 46 runs off 24 balls. Subsequently, Chand and Matthew Tromp could only accumulate 33 runs from the next 30 balls, which included three consecutive overs without boundaries.
Chand resumed his assault with a four and a six in the following two overs, but Rauf responded with a remarkable double-wicket over, claiming both Chand and the formidable Andre Russell. The second wicket fell to a 146km/h delivery that shattered the stumps. At this point, LAKR found themselves five wickets down, requiring 107 runs from 42 balls, a target that proved insurmountable. Saif Badar contributed 17 runs off eight balls, while captain Narine struck 27 runs off 13 balls before Rauf delivered another double-wicket over that effectively sealed the fate of the chase in the 19th over.
SCORECARD: San Fransico Unicorns 219/8 in 20 overs (Jake Fraser-McGurk 88, Finn Allen 52; Shadley van Schalkwyk 3-50) beat Los Angeles Knight Riders 187 in 19.5 overs (Unmukt Chand 53, Matthew Tromp 41; Xavier Bartlett 4-28, Haris Rauf 4-41) by 32 runs
