San Francisco Unicorns vs Seattle Orcas Major League Cricket Predictions - Unicorns to stay on top of MLC table by downing Orcas

Simon Lewis

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Last updated: 1 hour ago

Simon Lewis 1 hour ago

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The Unicorns are enjoying a great run of form winning four of their last six matches.
The Orcas slipped up in the playoff race by losing to MI New York.
The last group match for both sides is a must-win for the Orcas to secure a playoff spot.

Tim Seifert hits out against the Proteas (Getty Images).

San Francisco Unicorns vs Seattle Orcas Predictions

San Francisco Unicorns vs Seattle Orcas Predictions
Head-to-Head
San Francisco Unicorns Form
Seattle Orcas Form
Team news

The Unicorns are through to the playoffs but won’t want to relax as they will want to carry the winning habit through to the playoffs. The Orcas have been inconsistent and have a poor record against the Unicorns, so they will really need to up their game if they hope for a playoff-clinching victory. With both teams below them having two matches in hand the Orcas can’t afford to be stuck on eight points

San Francisco Unicorns’ Lhuan-dre Pretorius has scored 66 & 102* in his last 5 knocks.
San Francisco Unicorns’ Matthew Short has scores of 34*, 39, 21, 19* & 43 in 5 innings.
San Francisco Unicorns’ Haris Rauf has figures of 2/27, 2/24 & 3/25 in 4 matches.
Seattle Orcas’ Tim Seifert hit 5 sixes in his 61-ball 88 against MI New York.
Seattle Orcas’ Matthew Breetzke has scores of 51 & 44 in his last 5 innings.
Seattle Orcas’ Marcus Stoinis took 5/46 against MI New York.

Head-to-Head

San Francisco Unicorns have won four and lost one of their last five Major League Cricket matches against the Seattle Orcas.

San Francisco Unicorns Form

The Unicorns entered their second-last game of the group stage on the back of four wins in five matches, only to fall to the Knight Riders after a brave run chase.

Haris Rauf starred with the ball in picking up 3/25, while Xavier Bartlett (2/24) played a vital hand in knocking over two of the Knight Riders’ top five batters. The Knight Riders ended on a competitive score of 184/7 off their 20 overs.

In a thrilling run-chase, the Unicorns recovered from 42/4 in the 5th over thanks to Matthew Short (43 off 30), who stabilised the chase with a 68-run stand for the fifth wicket. Hammad Azam tried his best to get the Unicorns’ over the line, smashing 40 off 19 balls (four fours, two sixes), but the Unicorns were bowled out 11 runs short of their target at the start of the final over.

Seattle Orcas Form

The Orcas have yet to claim back-to-back wins this season, having followed every win with a defeat. In theory that means that, after losing to MI New York in their last match they should beat the Unicorns in their last group match… but that’s a flimsy theory on which to back a team against the in-form Unicorns.

Marcus Stoinis picked up a superb 5/46 as the Orcas did their best to contain MI New York, who ended on a competitive 179/8 off their 20 overs. In-form Proteas paceman Ottneil Baartman weighed in with a brilliant 2/18 off his four overs (econ 4.50).

The Orcas got off to a flying start with Tim Seifert (88 off 61) and Matthew Breetzke (44 off 31) adding 117 for the second wicket. They fell behind the asking rate and with none of their other top-order batters reaching double figures the Oracas could only reach 162/9 off their 20 overs.

Team news

Both sides are likely to maintain a settled side for the final group match despite both sides losing their last match.

San Francisco Unicorns (possible XI): Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Finn Allen, Matthew Short (c), Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Aaron Hardie, Hassan Khan, Hammad Azam, Xavier Bartlett, Brody Couch, Haris Rauf, Ghulam Mudassar

Seattle Orcas (possible XI): Tim Seifert, Shayan Jahangir, Matthew Breetzke, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis (c), Dasun Shanaka, Ali Sheikh, Shehan Jayasuriya, Cameron Gannon, Jasdeep Singh, Ottneil Baartman.

Odds will be published when released.