Washington Freedom captain Steve Smith, left, and Andries Gous (Photo Courtesy: Washington Freedom on X)
Washington Freedom
began their campaign in Major Cricket League (MLC) 2024 with a four-run win in the rain-hit game against
MI New York
(MINY) on Saturday at the Church Street Park in Morisville, North Carolina.
USA'S latest cricket sensation Saurabh Netravalkar continued to impress and led the Washington bowling charts after his skipper Steve Smith won the toss and asked MINY to bat first.
AS IT HAPPENED | MATCH CENTRE
'Player of the Match' Netravalkar took 3 for 24 and was ably supported by fellow pacer Justin Dill, who took 3 for 33.
The duo of Netravalkar and Dill never let the opposition batters settle as MINY kept losing wickets at regular intervals. It was only because of West Indies big-hitter
Nicholas Pooran
's 30-ball 44 and cameos by Afghanistan allrounder Rashid Khan (31 off 15 balls) and South African Anrich Nortje (14 off 9) that the New York team could post a respectable total of 154 for 9.
Chasing the target with rain threat looming large, Washington lost their Australian World Cup winner Travis Head (1) in the second over. Former Australia skipper Smith, who came out to open with Head, took time to settle down but never looked back after getting his eye in.
With Andries Gous at the other end, Smith took charge of proceedings to race to 46 not out off 28 balls, including 4 fours and 3 sixes.
The Washington scorecard read 55 for 1 in 7.4 overs when umpires stopped play because of lightning. Soon after the rain arrived and didn't allow any more play, bringing the DLS method into play.
Thanks to Smith's brisk scoring pace, Washington managed to edge MINY by four runs according to DLS calculations.
English (US) ·