A all-round display from Brody Couch saw a thrilling two-wicket victory registered for the San Francisco Unicorns over Seattle Orcas in a high-scoring Major League Cricket clash at Oakland Coliseum. Couch who took three critical wickets with the ball earlier, didn’t hang about coming back to play a blustery innings of 26 not out off just 14 balls guiding his side home with two deliveries still remaining.
En-route to a competitive target of 192, the Unicorns lost Finn Allen for duck off Marcus Stoinis’ very first ball in the opening over. However, things got worse for the team as captain Matthew Short and Sanjay Krishnamurthi followed suit at an even smaller cost with the score reading 26 for 3 inside the Powerplay.
While South African teen Lhuan-dre Pretorius initiated the one-off counter-punch efforts despite this sort of early implosion. The left-hander was a crazed man, hitting out with all breadth and fury to collect the ones that speed up any kind of offspin. The momentum changed because of his attacking style and he had scored a half-century in just 23 balls. Aaron Hardie played the perfect foil, rotating strike as he added 99 runs for a much needed partnership at just over six an over to bring his side back in the game.
When Dasun Shanaka finally broke the stand by dismissing Hardie, Seattle saw their moment to seize control. Two more batters were swiftly removed, notably the dangerous Pretorius who departed after an explosive 87 from just 39 balls. He hit a half dozen sixes that were colossal in nature and kept San Francisco close in the chase.
The chase was by no means finished, however. The Unicorns had collected 17 runs off an over with Harmeet Singh (0 for 40 in four) and it was Xavier Bartlett who produced the important cameo. Even getting that far didn’t leave the contest unbalanced as Cameron Gannon produced a sensational 17th over, giving up just one run and leaving San Francisco to score 23 off of two with only two wickets left.
Enter Brody Couch — a form on the scene. He nabbed a key six off Ottneil Baartman in the second-last over to ease pressure. Couch and Haris Rauf, who had to step out of the final over earlier for a new bat after one needed replacing because it broke during his innings, latched onto Dasun Shanaka with Couch clearing midwicket before an edged boundary (a misfield followed by Shane Getkate costing four) put paid into sealing victory.
After a quick-fire start to their innings, Seattle Orcas looked poised for a far bigger total earlier in the evening. Tim Seifert smashed an early 32 off just 14 balls with four sixes. Shayan Jahangir followed this up with an astonishing 62 off just 25 balls, with Matthew Breetzke weighing in positively at the Bradman-esque strike rate of a run-a-ball for his fifty.
After 10 overs, the Orcas were racing at a rate of knots as they cruised to 138 for 2 and looked on course to amass something well over that total. But how the second half of their innings turned out to be. For San Francisco, their bowlers struck back in style and combined to take 8 wickets for just 42 runs from the Seattle total.
Couch was well in the thick of that turnaround, removing both Matthew Breetzke and Shimron Hetmyer during his spell to finish with figures of 3 for 41. Matthew Short also contributed with two wickets as Orcas bowled out their rivals for 191 in just over the fifty overs or four balls remaining from it.
Pretorius set it up with one of the innings of tournament but it was Couch’s impact in both that were ultimately match-winning. Under pressure, his unflustered finishing touched off one of the most thrilling run chases so far this Major League Cricket season and secured yet another unforgettable win for the Unicorns.
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