San Francisco Unicorns faced their second defeat in MLC 2025. After Shimron Hetmyer scored an undefeated 78 off 37 balls. Making him the hero of the Seattle Orcas for the third time in a row.
Hetmyer was once again the mainstay of Orcas’ struggling chase. Entering the match fresh off an unbeaten 97 off 40 balls and 64 not out off 26. In the tenth over, Orcas fell to 56 for 4, having held Unicorns to 168 for 5. But Hetmyer put up important stands with Aaron Jones and Heinrich Klaasen to give Orcas a four-wicket victory in the final over for the third straight game.
The Orcas’ 169-run chase got off to a bad start. When Xavier Bartlett ended starter Steven Taylor’s suffering for a duck at ten balls. In his next over. Bartlett struck once more, eliminating Kyle Mayers.
Sikandar Raza was the aggressor in a 38-run third-wicket partnership with Shayan Jahangir. However, Orcas’ chase began to crumble as both batters fell off consecutive deliveries in the tenth over.
Then there was Hetmyer. After hitting two sixes in his first three balls, he was quickly out and about. Shimron Hetmyer continued to be aggressive even when the hitters at the other end fell. He made sure the necessary rate never got out of control by hitting a straight six down the ground to achieve his fifty off 23 balls.
He began by hitting Brody Couch over deep backward square leg. Then chased Bartlett, reducing the equation to eight in the last over, with thirty runs needed off the next three overs. Hetmyer then simply ended the chase with a few runs and three balls remaining after dropping Romario Shepherd for a 102-meter six over long-on.
Matthew Short was caught by left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh with his fourth ball, rocking Unicorns early in the batting order. Finn Allen delivered a few crucial calls, while Jake Fraser-McGurk hammered Harmeet for three consecutive fours. Together, the two scored 49 off 31 balls for the second wicket.
However, in the last over of the powerplay, left-arm fast bowler Ayan Desai removed Allen, and shortly after, Fraser-McGurk was run out by skipper Raza. As Unicorns rushed to 94 for 3 after ten overs, their leading scorer, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, hit left-arm wristpinner Waqar Salamkheil for a pair of sixes before smoking two more against Raza.
However, Orcas recovered, giving up just 34 runs in the following seven overs, and Krishnamurthi was also dismissed. Shepherd had to hit two sixes off his three balls faced in order for Unicorns to surpass the 165-mark. It appeared for a long time that the sum would be sufficient. Then Hetmyer arrived.
Unicorns, who had won six straight games, unexpectedly lost twice in two games, whereas Orcas had won three times after five losses.
