Pretorius, Allen powers San Francisco Unicorns to top spot

San Francisco Unicorns jumped to the top spot in the MLC 2026 standings with a crushing defeat of Washington Freedom which gave them a significant Net Run Rate boost to leapfrog the Seattle Orcas who had provisionally gone top with a win in Sunday's first game.

The Unicorns chased down Freedom's 190 in just 15.1 overs, powered by a blistering opening stand between Lhuan-dre Pretorius (66 off 26) and Finn Allen (45 off 18).

The Unicorns' final margin of victory was misleading because there was more life for the bowlers on the wicket. Freedom had opted to bat on it and at the half-way point of the game, their top-scorer Andries Gous, who had batted 50 balls for his unbeaten 83, expressed happiness at having taken his team to 190 on what was a slow and two-paced pitch. Obviously, all of the aforementioned assistance was drawn using good length bowling cutters.

But Freedom's bowlers were guilty of dishing out slot balls with alarming frequency. And that meant Pretorius and Allen simply bolted off the blocks. The former struck a hat-trick of sixes off Amila Aponso to get the chase going with a 24-run first over. Not to be left behind, Allen took down Lockie Ferguson for 18 in the next. In 2.4 overs, the pair had brought up the team's 50. Pretorius scored a half-century in 16 balls before the Powerplay ended, and Allen fell for a 45 in 18 balls after adding 102 runs for the first wicket.

Freedom didn't help their cause in the field either, dropping as many as three straightforward catches. The remainder of the chase had a procession-like quality as a result of that and the generous bowling. In his 26-ball stay, Pretorius hit seven sixes and three fours, but he lost to Nikhil Chaudhary. Matt Short then dropped anchor while Aaron Hardie kept the big hits coming from the other end to ensure the team got over the line early to give their NRR a substantial boost.

Earlier in the game, Mitchell Owen was dropped off the first ball of the game and made the Unicorns pay by hitting the next three balls for two fours and a six. Steve Smith, his captain and opening partner, was spared as well, but before walking across his stumps to scoop Haris Rauf, he lost his leg stump. After a 52-run Powerplay, Owen went down for a 20-ball 39, but Gous made steady runs that held the innings together.

Gous hit 33 of the subsequent 12 balls to reach his fifty. Nikhil Chaudhary upped the ante at the death with his smart boundary-finding ability. He was the aggressor in a 59-run stand with Gous, scoring 32 off 19 balls. Freedom thought they would reach 190 with that partnership, but within six overs of the following innings, they were proved wrong.