The penultimate set of matches in the Major League Cricket season concludes on Saturday night when the west coast rivals meet for the second time this season as the San Francisco Unicorns meet the Seattle Orcas in Dallas.
This is a big match for the Orcas in particular. Win it and they stay alive in the competition but lose it and they won’t be making the finals. San Francisco secure two cracks at a place in the final if they are able to come out on top here.
San Francisco Unicorns
When it was announced that Pat Cummins would be heading to the San Francisco Unicorns on a four-year deal you knew this was a team who were going to be taking things seriously this term. That appears to have been the case and they have made their way into second position in the table and have two cracks at getting the win that they need to ensure a top two finish. The last one comes against the team top of the table though so they would probably want to get the job done here if possible.
The Unicorns have had a very successful top three in this tournament and if they fire up here then they will really put the pressure on their opponents given the nature of the contest for them. San Francisco have been good with the ball too but they are going to be without the injured Liam Plunkett for this match which could force them to change one or two things. A solid showing should see them get the job done however.
Seattle Orcas
It is now or never for the Seattle Orcas. They have played five matches in this tournament and they already know that if they are going to win the title then they have to win five in succession. They have to win their last two regular season matches just to make it into the finals and that has to begin here. That means they have to gain revenge on what was a fairly comfortable beating in the reverse meeting between these two where Seattle delivered a weak run chase.
Seattle have gone well when their top three have delivered the goods but when they haven’t they haven’t really found the goods down the order and that is a problem that needs to be rectified here. The other thing about the Orcas is they haven’t really maximised their potential with the ball so they need to deliver an all-round better performance in this match if they are going to give themselves a chance to stay in the competition.
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Key Players
Matt Short failed with the bat in the last match but he still delivered the goods for the Unicorns with the ball and having two strings to his bow makes him a very important player for San Francisco. Expect him to bowl four overs here.
Ryan Rickelton is the second highest run scorer in the competition so if the Seattle Orcas are to have a chance of keeping their season alive you would imagine that a big innings is needed from the South African opener.
Betting
I expect another big showing from Matt Short in this match. I took his performance in the previous game and amazingly despite him covering it with plenty in hand, the line has gone down. He had a line of 32.5 against MI New York and ended up posting a total of 64 so quite why his line has gone down remains to be seen, particularly when you consider that he scored 30 points in the field in the previous match between these two and only bowled three overs.
It has been clear that the conditions are starting to really suit spin in this competition and with so many matches at Dallas in succession in a regular space of time that was always going to be the case. Seattle are likely to offer up a top three of left handed batters so the Short off spin will be a weapon against them. He is key in the field and if all that wasn’t enough he scored 56 in the reverse meeting between these two. Whether it is with a good effort with the bat or the ball or a mixture of the two I expect this line to be covered.
Tips
Back M.Short’s Performance – Over 30.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
