Saurabh Netravalkar, Owen bowl Washington Freedom to victory
Washington Freedom beat Los Angeles Knight Riders by 6 wickets in Major League Cricket 2026, with the win set up by brilliant bowling from Saurabh Netravalkar and Mitchell Owen.
It was an abject batting display from Los Angeles Knight Riders, not for the first time this season, and while Washington Freedom had their own struggles with the bat, they were only chasing 109, and got there with 17 balls to spare in their MLC 2026 game on Wednesday.
MLC action shifted from Oakland to Pomona after a two-day gap, and the first glimpse of the new venue suggested tough times for batters over the next few days - Pomona is hosting seven games.
It has started with a game where 218 runs were scored for the loss of 14 wickets in 37.1 overs, with Knight Riders rolled over for 108 by the combination of Saurabh Netravalkar, Ben Dwarshuis, Mitchell Owen and Ian Holland. Up top, Colin Munro scored 25 but took 31 balls to get them - after scoring 33 in 36 balls in Knight Riders' previous game - and Matthew Tromp scored 21 in 20 from No. 3. All they had after the powerplay was 40 for 1.
Saurabh Netravalkar 3/16 in 4 overs – broke the game open in the 13th over by removing Jason Holder and Andre Russell in the same over.Mitchell Owen 3/19 in 4 overs – ripped through the lower order.
Ian Holland 2/25 and Ben Dwarshuis 2 wickets supported as LAKR lost their last 5 wickets for just 17 runs. Rovman Powell’s 30 off 19 was the lone late fightback. Comfortable chase: Chasing 109, Washington wobbled early at 14/2 as Sunil Narine removed Owen and Andries Gous. But Steven Smith anchored with 40* off 44 balls and added 62 with Mark Chapman 34. Washington finished 110/4 in 17.1 overs.
Nikhil Chaudhary fell too for a 12-ball 15, before Smith and Lahiru Milantha finished the job.
The win lifted Freedom to fourth place on the table - level on points with the top three of San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas and Texas Super Kings but well behind on net run rate - while Knight Riders slipped to the bottom.
