Match Details

MINY vs SO 15th Match, MLC 2023

195-819.2

Seattle Orcas won by 2 wickets 🏆

MINY

20.0194-8

Match info

Live

Scorecard

Player of the Match

Heinrich Klaasen

Seattle Orcas

110(44)

SO - 2nd Innings

Session	Open	PASS
6 Over	51	42
10 Over	72	86
15 Over	134	142

MINY - 1st Innings

Session	Open	PASS
6 Over	50	58
10 Over	92	92
15 Over	141	139
20 Over	191	194

Commentary

So, that’s all the action from this encounter. The league stages of MLC 2023 are done and dusted and the caravan would move to the Grand Prairie Stadium again for the playoffs. It will be the Seattle Orcas taking on the Texas Super Kings in the Qualifier. Do join us there and stay tuned for more cricketing action from around the world. For now, this is Megh Mandaliya, signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Deepak Prakash alongside our scorer/analyst Zeeshan Naiyer. Cheers!

Dasun Shanaka (Seattle Orcas Captain): "See, it's a very good win, credit to Klaasen, and the way he played was outstanding. I think Harmeet and Imad, those two were the key for these innings to keep 190s. So I expected a little less at the end, but last of end for a few runs, but it can happen in cricket. Yeah. Sometimes, you know, batsman like Nicholas Pooran, so he's very much keen to get over these left-hand spinners.

So it's a matchup that works the other way. So that's why I held on to Imad at the end apart from Harmeet, so I wanted to use Harmeet upfront, but because of the fact Nicholas Pooran and I didn't use him.

(Playoffs) See, we are prepared for that now. So I think the skipper will be back, and our team will be more strong, so I think we can cross all the lines there as well."

Nicholas Pooran (MI New York Vice Captain): " (Speaking about Pollard's injury) The medical team is taking care of him and we would have more information after a couple of hours. Yeah, it was a challenge, but Polly and I obviously keep talking about the situation. He always communicates with me about what's happening in the game, what he wants to do. Klaasen had a chance and he's a very good player, you can't give him a chance.

Unfortunately, we got one, but happy to contribute. We know as a team we need to put our hands up and be responsible, and I'm happy that I can contribute. Left a couple of runs there. Yeah, for sure. We haven't started this tournament off to the best, but we're in the playoffs now. Everyone knows the type of players we have in our team.

You have a lot of match winners and it can be any one day come the next game, so we're looking forward to that. Losing is obviously disappointing, but we get the opportunity to learn a lot from this game as well. We know what we have to work on and again, another day, another opportunity, and hopefully we can be on the right side."

Heinrich Klaasen (Player of the Match): "Yeah, I knew it was going to be difficult. I struggled at the start and could not find my swing at all. I found that against Rashid and I knew that was the time to pull the trigger. I knew it was going to be hard and that Trent Boult got me really nervous with that over but luckily, we got over the line. Yeah, I pride myself on not getting out and I tried to keep rotating the strike to get to the 140-150 strike rate. Yeah, it's quite hot out there in Dallas so you don't wanna play the day. So, playing the first Qualifier gives you another opportunity of reaching the final."

Player of the Match: Heinrich Klaasen

Powerhitter of the Match: Kieron Pollard

Play of the Day: Heinrich Klaasen

Nauman Anwar (Seattle Orcas): "Yes, we did well. Especially the way Heinrich Klaasen batted. I haven't seen anything like that. Yeah, I didn't change anything. The team has been backing and supporting me every time. I was not able to convert starts into big runs but happy that I scored a half-century and we won. Yes, I am enjoying my cricket with International players and I keep speaking with them on how they prepare themselves ahead of a tournament. Happy to play with players like Quinton de Kock and Klaasen."

6:12 AM IST, 8:42 PM Local Time | Deepak: Heinrich Klaasen finishes things in style. The game was full of a rollercoaster ride but Heinrich Klaasen, take a bow man. The right-arm South African batter wreaked havoc with bat and notched up the first century of Major League Cricket (MLC), helping his side win this game by 2 wickets and retain the top two spot.

Earlier, after being invited to bat first, MI New York posted a formidable 194/8 in 20 overs. Their innings was anchored by West Indian southpaw Nicholas Pooran, who pummeled Seattle Orcas bowlers all around the park and scored a blistering 68 runs off 34 balls. Skipper Pollard played a short cameo of 34 runs off 18 balls, but it was Boult’s 20 runs off 6 balls in the last over that helped MI cross the 190-run mark. Imad Wasim and Harmeet Singh bagged a couple of wickets for Seattle Orcas, while Gannon and Andrew Tye contributed one wicket.

In pursuit of MI New York’s 194 runs, Seattle Orcas started their innings on a lackluster note as they lost Quinton de Kock and Shehan Jayasuriya for 9 and 0 runs, respectively. Nauman Anwar and Heinrich Klaasen started the rescue work, and the pair didn’t waste any time and unleashed their inner beauty from the word go. Anwar was the primary aggressor among the duo, but soon he was joined by Klaasen, who thwarted bowlers all around the park and changed the equation of the game.

Anwar brought up his half-century but departed just after completing his-half centuries. Klaasen continued his blistering knock and wreaked havoc with the bat as the right-handed batter tore apart Rashid Khan and smashed 26 runs in the spin Wizard’s last over.

The equation was reduced to 20 runs off the last 3 overs, but the game was not over yet as Kiwi left-arm pacer Trent Boult was breathing fire with the ball in the 18th over and extracted three wickets in the same over. Klaasen, who was standing at the other end, was watching all the drama, but he kept his calm and went on to complete his century in the penultimate over, the first century of Major League Cricket (MLC), and finished the game with a maximum in the last over.

On the bowling front, Trent Boult bagged 4 wickets for MI, Rashid Khan chipped in with a couple of wickets, while David Wiese and Nosthush Kenjige contributed one wicket.

Stick around for the post-match presentation.

19.2 N Kenjige to H Klaasen

6 SIXXX! THAT'S IT! 80.7 kph. This is unbelievable batting from Heinrich Klaasen. Fraction short and outside off, slower through the air, Klaasen waits for it on the backfoot and biffs that through the line as the ball sails over long-on for a maximum to finish the proceedings. Seattle Orcas defeat MI New York by 2 wickets to stay at the top of the table. What a fantastic chase this was!

19.1 N Kenjige to A Tye

1 Around the wicket. 85.8 kph. Fraction short on the middle stump, Tye stays on the backfoot and punches that down to long-on for a single.

Kenjige to bowl the final over.

OVER 19

Seattle Orcas

188/8

Heinrich Klaasen

104(43)

Andrew Tye

3(3)

Ehsan Adil

0-30(3.0)

Seattle Orcas need 7 runs off the final over. They successfully retain their top two spot as they managed to score 186 runs.

18.6 E Adil to H Klaasen

4 FOUR! Klaasen ends the over on a high. He is brought the equation down to 7 runs from 6 balls now. Back of a length delivery and outside off, Klaasen backs away and slices that over backward point as the ball races away for a boundary after a couple of bounces. 10 runs coming off the penultimate over.

11 needed off 7 balls.

18.5 E Adil to H Klaasen

0 A yorker right in the blockhole, Klaasen bends low and digs that back to the bowler.

Heinrich Klaasen, take a bow. What a player, what a knock. Completes his century off just 41 balls.