Finn Allen, Matt Short Power Unicorns Past Texas Super Kings
The San Francisco Unicorns went four wins from four and took outright top spot in 2025 Cognizant Major League Cricket (MLC), chasing down Texas Super Kings’ 198/5 in emphatic fashion at a Grand Prairie Stadium packed with passionate local fans.
Put into bat by the Unicorns’ new captain Matt Short, the opening pair of Devon Conway and Faf du Plessis begun to exert dominance against the Unicorns’ attack throughout the powerplay, ending it on 71 without loss, with the San Francisco-side sharing the bowling load as they looked to work out the new pitch in the Texas leg of this year’s MLC.
South African du Plessis began to motor, passing his half-century off 22 balls in the seventh over, with Matt Short choosing to bring himself into attack in the ninth, ably stemming the tide of regular boundaries to the dangerous duo. Next over, the league’s leading wicket-taker Haris Rauf followed up with the first scalp of the match, with Unicorns’ debutant Karima Gore catching Conway in the deep.
Saiteja Mukkamalla settled in quickly and du Plessis continued his charge, forming a dangerous partnership which took the Super Kings over the 150 mark and the captain to his seventh T20 century, before Xavier Bartlett probed the American batsman into a big heave to deep mid wicket, with the safe hands of Fraser-McGurk ending his innings on 38.
One wicket became two next ball when Haris Rauf halted du Plessis’ innings on 100 from 51 balls to leave the Super Kings with two new batsmen, Marcus Stoinis and Daryl Mitchell, at the crease. Bartlett took his second soon after, sending Stoinis back to the dugout for one. Haris Rauf then showed his death bowling experience stifling Calvin Savage and Mitchell in the last, to leave a chase of 200 for the unbeaten Unicorns.
In a rejigged batting order, the Unicorns sent out Matt Short with Finn Allen to begin the challenging chase. The new captain led from the front, taking two boundaries off Zia-ul-Haq’s first over, before dominating the strike and the share of the runs in the early stages. Allen landed his first six over long on in the fourth over and the pair continued to impose themselves against a very capable bowling attack, ending the power play on 83/0 and comfortably above the required rate.
Matt Short claimed his fifty in the seventh over off Mitchell before Allen followed with his own in the eighth over against Noor Ahmad. Short eventually holed out to Mitchell for 61 off 29, bringing Fraser-McGurk to the crease to continue where he had left off. The threatening pair continued with a flurry of regular boundaries until Allen hit out to Adam Milne, ending a fine innings on 78 from 35 and as the MLC’s all-time leading run scorer.
Sanjay Krishnamurthi helped Fraser-McGurk take the game to the brink, with the Australian falling at the last, having hit a mature 37 off 25, leaving Hassan Khan to knock off the winning runs with 23 balls remaining.
The Unicorns’ win leaves them with a 100% record of four wins from four matches and now alone at the top of the MLC table. Texas Super Kings remain second after their first defeat of the season, but with three more games to come in front of a passionate home crowd at the Grand Prairie Stadium. Unicorns’ next match is a return fixture against MI New York, while the Super Kings look to get back to winning ways against Washington Freedom on Sunday, June 22.
Brief Scores: San Francisco Unicorns, 202/3 (Finn Allen, 78; Matt Short, 61) beat Texas Super Kings, 198/5 (Faf du Plessis, 100; Haris Rauf, 34/2) by 7 wickets
