We know that the Washington Freedom are in the final of the Major League Cricket season on Sunday and their opponents in the big game will be determined on Friday night when the San Francisco Unicorns take on the Texas Super Kings in Dallas.
The Unicorns have already had one chance to make the final and they made a bit of a mess of it so they will be looking to take their second chance. The Super Kings have set up this crack at making the final by winning one knockout game and need to win another here.
San Francisco Unicorns
The San Francisco Unicorns have been the second best team in the tournament to date and so it would be a real disappointment at the end of a promising campaign if they don’t close out the term with a crack at the final so they are really under pressure to deliver the goods here. To be fair, they lost the first qualifier to the best team in the competition so that isn’t a disgrace but they have been given a tough schedule here having only lost that match on Thursday evening.
Not only do they need to physically recover from a tough loss within 24 hours but they have to mentally come to terms with the fact that they have let a chance to make the final pass them over. With that in mind, you would have to say that this will be some sort of effort for them to reach the final from here. They certainly have the batting to get there but the big question will come in the form of their bowlers who took a bit of a pounding on Thursday evening.
Texas Super Kings
In a bit of a strange twist of fate, the Texas Super Kings, who finished lower in the overall standings than the San Francisco Unicorns, have had the better of the schedule and they have had the extra day to prepare for this contest and head into it with the confidence of knowing that they have already won a knockout match. If they can double down on that here then they will be competing in the final having reached the title showdown the hard way.
The Texas Super Kings batting has come alive in the latter stages of the tournament and they are certainly going to need that to remain the case if they want to win this match. Their bowlers have got better the longer the tournament has gone on and with the square beginning to tire you would imagine that is only going to further be the case with every match they play. There are plenty of reasons for optimism for the Texas outfit here.
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Key Players
Hassan Khan had a match to remember in the Qualifier 1 match on Thursday night clobbering six sixes in a 36-ball 57 and then taking two wickets with the ball in hand but he will be wondering how he wasn’t on the winning team. He will want a repeat of that effort with a different result here.
Faf du Plessis is now the leading run scorer in this tournament with 375 runs to his name at an average of 53.57 per innings. The Texas Super Kings will hope that their captain will have one more big knock in him to lead them into the final.
Betting
The San Francisco Unicorns have been the better of these two teams this season but I think this will be a massive effort for them to get over the line in a match that begins less than 24 hours after that one finished. The other issue the Unicorns have is that while their batting has been good for the majority of the season, one of the few occasions it hasn’t fired was in the league game against the Texas Super Kings and for my money the Super Kings’ bowling has only got better since then.
The other concern for the Unicorns is in the last few matches their bowling has come apart at the seams at just the time when the Texas outfit are really coming on strong with the bat. The final reason why I like the Super Kings in this match is that they have won a knockout match this season and have the knowledge of getting it done under that sort of pressure. The San Francisco openers have become a little too hit or miss for my liking so I’m with the Texas Super Kings here.
Tips
Back Texas Super Kings to beat San Francisco Unicorns for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Betfred
