San Francisco Unicorns vs Washington Freedom Predictions - Unicorns to make it three wins on the trot

Nigel Williams

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Last updated: 1 hour ago

Nigel Williams 1 hour ago

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Unicorns top the MLC table, in strong form with Pretorius and Hardie impressing.
Freedom remain inconsistent despite key players like Steve Smith & Mitchell Owen.
Unicorns tipped to win; star performers expected with bat and ball.

Lhuan-dre Pretorius is in explosive T20 form (Getty Images)

San Francisco Unicorns vs Washington Freedom Predictions

The in-form Unicorns will be aiming to maintain their top position against a resilient Freedom side.

San Francisco Unicorns have won 3 of their last 5 matches.
San Francisco Unicorns’ Lhuan-dre Pretorius has scored 66, 65, 58, 69* & 87 in 6 knocks.
San Francisco Unicorns’ Aaron Hardie has scored 42*, 20, 56* & 28 in his last 4 innings.
San Francisco Unicorns’ Brody Couch took 1/28, 2/42 & 3/41 in his last 3 matches.
Washington Freedom has lost 3 of their last 6 matches.
Washington Freedom’s Steve Smith has scored 40*, 14, 30, 69 & 78 in his last 5 knocks.
Washington Freedom’s Mitchell Owen has scores of 61, 155 & 77 in his last 5 matches.
Washington Freedom’s Marco Jansen took 3/33 & 1/35 & 1/40 in his last 3 matches.

Head-to-Head

San Francisco Unicorns have won three of their last six Major League Cricket meetings with Washington Freedom.

San Francisco Unicorns Form

Unicorns beat the Freedom by eight wickets in their previous match. The Freedom elected to bat first and posted 190/4 in their 20 overs, recovering from a slow start thanks to an unbeaten 83 off 50 balls from Andries Gous and a quickfire 39 off 20 from Mitchell Owen.

Unicorns opener Lhuan-dre Pretorius smashed another 66 runs off 26 balls (a half-century off 16 balls), while Finn Allen added a quickfire 45 off 18 balls. After both fell playing attacking shots, Matthew Short 34* and Aaron Hardie 42* comfortably steered the Unicorns to 193/2 in 15.1 overs to go top of the league table.

Lhuan-dre Pretorius has scored 66, 65, 58, 69* & 87 in 6 knocks while Aaron Hardie has made 42*, 20, 56* & 28 in his last 4 innings.

Brody Couch took 1/28, 2/42 & 3/41 in his last 3 matches.

San Francisco Unicorns are top of the MLC table, with 6 points from 5 matches.

Washington Freedom Form

Washington Freedom defeated the Los Angeles Knight Riders by six wickets in their previous match of the 2026 Major League Cricket season. Bowling first, the Freedom restricted the Knight Riders to 108 runs all out in 17.5 overs, before smoothly chasing down the target, scoring 110/4 in 17.1 overs.

Captain Steve Smith anchored the innings, remaining unbeaten on 40 off 44 balls, while Mark Chapman added 34 runs. Netravalkar (3/16), Owen (3/19), Dwarshuis (2/12) and Ian Holland (2/25) were the wicket-takers.

Steve Smith has scored 40*, 14, 30, 69 & 78 in his last 5 knocks and Marco Jansen has figures of 3/33 & 1/35 & 1/40 in his last 3 matches.

Washington Freedom are fifth in the MLC table, with 6 points from 6 matches.

Team news

The Freedom will be looking for a strong contribution from their bowlers, while the Unicorns’ top order is under pressure to start offering Lhuan Dre Pretorius some support up top.

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

Washington Freedom (probable XI): Steve Smith (c), Andries Gous (wk), Mitchell Owen, Mark Chapman, Lahiru Milantha, Obus Pienaar, Nikhil Chaudhary, Marco Jansen, Amila Aponso, Saurabh Netravalkar, Lockie Ferguson.