The top two in the Major League Cricket table meet in the penultimate match in the group phase on Monday night when the San Francisco Unicorns take on the Washington Freedom in a decent looking game in Dallas.
The caveat to this one is that this will be the dress rehearsal of the Qualifier 1 match on this same ground on Thursday evening where these two sides will face off for the opening spot in the final. This one is the chance to lay a marker down ahead of that.
San Francisco Unicorns
The San Francisco Unicorns were always going to be the ones getting plenty of attention this season after they announced the big signing of Pat Cummins and they have dealt with the scrutiny pretty well, cruising into second place in the table with just one defeat in their six matches. They have played attacking, aggressive cricket and in the main it has gone well. The one time their aggressive batting got the better of them was their only defeat in their second game.
Since that match though, while they have had the needle slightly in the aggressive side of the counter rather than the sensible one, the dial has gone slightly towards the middle a little more and they have looked better for it. Whether that was because the conditions have tired and required that or they just don’t want to get themselves in that hole once again only they will know. In the main they have a good attack and a powerful top order and that is never a bad combination in franchise cricket.
Washington Freedom
The Washington Freedom have been the team of the season so far though. They go into this final group match undefeated in the tournament and will head into the postseason as the team to beat but those who follow franchise cricket will know that regular season success means little when we get to the playoffs other than the fact that teams as high up as Washington are earn themselves two goes at getting to the final.
It will be interesting to see how the Freedom approach this last group game. There is certainly a case for resting and rotating players and getting a game into those who need it or more time in the middle for those have had played but haven’t made much of an impact to date, but given that they will be playing the opponent they will meet in the Qualifier 1 match they might decide to go full strength and look to put a marker down ahead of that match.
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Key Players
Finn Allen reminded everyone that he can be a destructive player on any occasion in the last match the San Francisco Unicorns played. If he catches fire at the top of the innings then the Unicorns would be in a good position here.
Rachin Ravindra is starting to gather in importance for the Washington Freedom this season. His bowling is really coming to the fore on these tired wickets and if he can deliver with the bat too then he will be a big player here.
Betting
It is hard to go against the Washington Freedom here. I have been on them all tournament and if anything they are getting better not worse. Their last four wins have been with 10 balls remaining, 24 balls remaining, 94 runs and 42 runs. No team has got close to them since the opening game and had the rain not came when it did it might well have been that they would have won that match going away as well so Washington really do look like the real deal.
San Francisco Unicorns have been a good team all season too and if their top order catches fire then they could destroy any team in this league, as we saw in the previous match against the Seattle Orcas. The question mark over that is the Orcas have been the worst team in the league this term so quite what we can take from that win remains to be seen. The Unicorns have lost to the Texas Super Kings and only beat MI New York, the other team in the playoffs, by three runs. Washington have the better bowling unit here and that can ultimately be the difference in this one.
Tips
Back Washington Freedom to beat San Francisco Unicorns for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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