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Life after international retirement hasn't been easy from Heinrich Klaasen. Seattle Orcas lost their fifth match in a row in the ongoing Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 and sit at the bottom of the points table. San Francisco Unicorns continued their unbeaten run with a 32-run win and became the first team to book their qualifier spot. Captain Matthew Short and Romario Shepherd starred with respective half-centuries and scalps with ball in hand.
Short hits big in powerplay overs
Klaasen won the toss and opted to bowl first. Short started the innings with a boundary off Obed McCoy. Gerald Coetzee got the prized wicket of Finn Allen after conceding a boundary. Jake Fraser-McGurk arrived at the crease and hit a boundary. Short continued to hit big in the powerplay overs. Coetzee and McCoy took a beating as San Francisco Unicorns were 59/1 after powerplay overs. In the eighth over, Harmeet Singh got the breakthrough with Fraser-McGurk's wicket. He scored five fours and a six. Short reached his fifty from 27 balls. It is his third consecutive fifty in the season.
Shepherd's fifty helps Unicorns set challenging target
In the 10th over, Harmeet struck twice to dismiss Short and Hassan Khan. Short hit seven fours and a couple of sixes in his 29-ball 52. Coetzee returned and dismissed Sanjay Krishnamurthi got a single-digit score. In his last over, he got the wicket of Xavier Bartlett as well. Shepherd did the bulk of scoring while Jahmar Hamilton struggled. In the 17th over, he lost his wicket to Cameron Gannon after scoring just six runs from 12 balls. Shepherd had a couple of reprieves in the 18th over. In the final over, he smashed McCoy for a hat-trick of sixes. He reached his fifty from 29 balls. On the last ball, he got out trying to clear the boundary. Shepherd's 31-ball 56 helped San Francisco Unicorns post 176/8.
Shepherd, Short push Orcas on back foot despite good start
Seattle Orcas' run chase got off to a good start with Shayan Jahangir hitting Carmi le Roux for two consecutive sixes. Jahangir did the bulk of the scoring in powerplay overs while David Warner rotated strike. In the seventh over, Shepherd was introduced and he knocked over Jahangir. The opener scored 40 runs from 22 balls, including three fours and as many sixes. Then, Short introduced himself and got the wickets of Warner and Kyle Mayers. Warner scored 23 runs from 20 balls. An out-of-form Klaasen hit a six before getting caught at deep mid-wicket in Haris Rauf's over. At halfway stage, Seattle Orcas were 77/4.
Seattle Orcas too far from target
Seattle Orcas struggled in the middle overs. Sujit Nayak played too many dot balls. In the 14th over, he became Short's third victim of the evening. He scored 15 runs from 21 balls. Hetmyer tried to revive the run chase by hitting Bartlett for two fours and a six in the 15th over. In the next over, Rauf struck twice to rule out possibilities of a comeback. Coetzee got bowled whereas Hetmyer departed for a 16-ball 30. Shepherd, Rauf and Bartlett got one wicket each to bowl out Seattle Orcas for 144 in 18.2 overs and win by 32 runs.
With five losses in a row, Seattle Orcas' next five encounters are must-win. MI New York and Los Angeles Knight Riders are not in a good position either with just four losses apiece.
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