The second half of the double header of action in Major League Cricket on Sunday night sees the San Francisco Unicorns continuing their MLC 2025 season when they go up against the inaugural champions MI New York in Oakland.
San Francisco have looked fantastic in the tournament to date and could really steal a march on the rest if they can win a third game in four days here. New York were beaten in their opening game and will want to level the ledger here.
San Francisco Unicorns
I think if you had written a script for the start to the season that the San Francisco Unicorns would have been looking for it would have been nowhere near as good as the one that they have actually delivered. We are still early enough in the competition that we don’t know exactly what they have beaten in their opening two matches but we do know that they have beaten them more emphatically than could have been imagined and they have the chance to put themselves in an incredible position with a third win here.
The Unicorns have been emphatic with the bat so far in this competition, absolutely battering their way to scores of 269/5 and 219/5. We probably haven’t found out too much about them with the ball because they have had two monster scores on the board to defend and scoreboard pressure very much in their favour. There has been nothing to suggest they don’t have the tools to get the job done in tighter circumstances though. This is their final match in Oakland which has been sold as their home ground so they will want to go out with a bang.
MI New York
I would imagine that even though they have had 48 hours to digest it, MI New York will be wondering how they lost their opening game. There is an argument to be made that they were in control of proceedings for 36 of the 40 overs in the contest but still managed to come out on the losing side of it. You do kind of feel for MI New York anyway given how late in the day Rashid Khan pulled the plug on his involvement in the competition but that only heightened the sympathy votes.
If you was being harsh on New York you could say that their downfall was brought about themselves because nobody took on the responsibility to get them over the line, but two insane pieces of fielding was the real undoing factor. If New York bowl like their did in their opening game and those who needed the run come on for it with the bat then there is nothing to suggest that the former winners can’t come out on top here, if they can keep better control of the Unicorns than has been the case so far.
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Key Players
Jake Fraser McGurk headed to Major League Cricket this season under a bit of a cloud. The Big Bash League and Indian Premier League seasons certainly didn’t go to plan so he will have been delighted to find some form last time out and will be looking for similar here.
Monank Patel showed his class with 62 in the first match but he got out with three overs to go and with the finishing line in sight so he will be looking to make up for that and get his side over the line if he is in a similar position here.
Betting
It is a little risky taking on a side who have looked as good as the San Francisco Unicorns have been but I do wonder what they will find if Finn Allen and/or Jake Fraser-McGurk fail with the bat. Nobody else in the team have more than 50 runs in the two matches so far so you would think the scoring rate would go down at the very least and that would being the MI New York side right into the game. New York have the freshness advantage on their side too.
New York will need to bat better when the crunch moments come in this match but I don’t think that they did a huge amount wrong when you consider the issues they had late on in the build-up to the tournament. I don’t think the Unicorns bowling attack is that good that New York can’t get after it so if Trent Boult or Naveen can keep Allen and Fraser-McGurk honest it could open the door for MI to end the unbeaten start of San Francisco.
Tips
Back MI New York to beat San Francisco Unicorns for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Unibet
