Washington Freedom won over the Seattle Orcas by 5 wickets in our third match of Cognizant Major League Cricket Season 2, at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas.

Freedom skipper Steven Smith won the toss and put us in to bat first. It wasn’t the best of starts for us as Saurabh Netravalkar scalped Nauman Anwar for three runs. Ryan Rickelton was joined by Quinton de Kock at the crease and the latter unleashed some classy strokes. But he soon lost his fellow Protea compatriot, as Rickelton walked back after scoring four, being undone by Lockie Ferguson.

Quinton de Kock too could not convert his start into a big knock falling for 24 and it was now up to skipper Heinrich Klassen and Shubham Ranjane to build up our innings.

The captain would score a classy knock of 51 off only 30, hitting 4 fours and 3 massive sixes and his innings helped us to what could prove to be a tricky total for the opposition, despite a lack of support from the other end. We would end up putting a total of 124 all out in 19.4 overs and it was now up to our bowlers to put up a fight.

And we did just that, with Imad Wasim delivering the perfect first over in the form of a wicket-maiden, getting the big scalp of Travis Head. Rachin Ravindra and Steven Smith threatened but we fought back brilliantly, with Nandre Burger first dismissing Ravindra for 26,

Cameron Gannon would knock the top off the stumps, dismissing Freedom captain Smith and Burger would follow that up by taking his second scalp of the match, dismissing Mukhtar.

The tide would turn further when the dangerous Glenn Maxwell tried to attack Harmeet Singh, which ended up costing him his wicket, with proving to be a safe pair of hands.

With the match evenly-poised, Lahiru Milantha (33*) and Obus Pienaar (31*) showcased great poise and composure, stitching together an 63-run partnership to take the Freedom over the line. Our bowlers tried their best and gave it their all but could not deliver a breakthrough.

Our attention now turns towards the game against San Francisco Unicorns on the 16th of July in Morrisville, North Carolina.