Smith and Maxwell Shine as Washington Freedom Secures Major League Cricket 2024 Title
Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell lead Washington Freedom to a commanding 96-run victory over San Francisco Unicorns in the MLC 2024 championship game.
Following dominance at the bat by Smith and Australia teammate Glenn Maxwell, the pursuit by the Unicorns collapsed as Marco Jansen claimed both openers among his three wickets.
The San Francisco Unicorns (Ravindra 3-23, Jansen 3-28) lost to the Washington Freedom 207 for 5 (Smith 88, Maxwell 40) by a margin of 96 runs.
After winning five games in the group stage and defeating Unicorns in the qualifier to go straight to the final, the outcome solidified Freedom’s position as the team of the season. A partnership of 83 off 39 balls between Smith and Maxwell shifted the tide of this match, as Freedom scored 121 runs in the second half of their innings.
Despite a slow start in the powerplay, Smith—who was left off of Australia’s T20 World Cup squad earlier this year—made 88 off 52 balls, including six sixes. After scoring 10 runs off of 12 balls in the sixth over, he quickly reached a fifty run in 34 balls and finished the season tied for second place with Travis Head in terms of run totals (336 at a strike rate of 148.67).
Head, who has scored at least 170 runs in the competition, was dismissed early by Pat Cummins after he edged to slip; Finn Allen survived the first over and held on at the second attempt. But even as Smith was getting comfortable, Andries Gous gave Freedom’s innings momentum. By the time Haris Rauf removed Rachin Ravindra after the halfway point, the score was tied at 86 for 3.
Then Smith and Maxwell took over, with the latter having recovered form in the tournament’s latter rounds. Juanoy Drysdale’s 28 off the 13th over gave them the lead. After getting a top edge off Cummins, Smith was within sight of a century after he produced an incredible scoop for a six off Rauf.
Smith’s World Cup omission and absence from the group to play Scotland and England in September suggest that his T20I career is probably gone as selectors turn their attention to other matters, but he has had a successful few weeks in the US.
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Despite Maxwell falling in the following over, which Josh Inglis brilliantly caught, Freedom managed to reach 200.
The pursuit of unicorns never really took off. With 81 runs at 11.57 after edging into the stumps against Jansen, Jake Fraser-McGurk’s low-key campaign came to an end. Sanjay Krishnamurthi and Allen also fell inside the powerplay, leaving a difficult task. After being dropped, Sherfane Rutherford was expertly caught by Ian Holland at deep backward square, and the remainder of the batting collapsed under a barrage of questions.
After departing the Delhi Capitals a few weeks prior, Ricky Ponting was crowned the new coach of the Freedom following the team’s triumph.
