Washington Freedom held their nerve to beat MI New York by two wickets and secure their third win in a row, with Mitchell Owen's blazing 60 off 26 balls and Mark Chapman's steady unbeaten 45 standing out in their chase of 189.
MLC 2025
Washington Freedom collect third win on the bounce
Mitchell Owen smashed a blazing 60 off 26 balls in his team's win © Sportzpics
WF got off to a flying start, reaching 74 for 2 at the end of the powerplay. Owen did most of the damage, including hitting three sixes in a 22-run over from Rushil Ugarkar. But once Owen fell in the eighth over, the innings plateaued. Mark Chapman added 41 runs with Jack Edwards but the stand took nearly six overs. Edwards was then run out by Michael Bracewell and Glenn Maxwell was bowled by Trent Boult as WF kept losing wickets regularly.
The death overs threatened to take the game away from WF. Naveen-ul-Haq gave away just two runs and took a wicket in the 17th over, followed by Trent Boult's brilliant over where he picked up a wicket and conceded only one run. But Chapman stayed calm and collected 14 runs off Ugarkar in the 19th over, leaving only three runs to get in the final over.
Earlier, MINY got off to a flier after being put in to bat. Quinton de Kock and Monank Patel powered them to 70 in the powerplay but as soon as the fielding restrictions were done away with, Monank fell to Owen. Nicholas Pooran struggled to get going, scoring 33 at nearly a run-a-ball. De Kock made 55 but couldn't carry on.
It was Michael Bracewell who gave MINY a late boost with a quickfire 42 off 24 balls, hitting five fours and a six to push the total to 188.
Brief Scores: MI New York 188/4 (de Kock 55, Bracewell 42*; Owen 1-29) lost to Washington Freedom 189/8 in 19.2 overs (Owen 60, Chapman 45*; Naveen-ul-Haq 2-28) by two wickets
© Cricbuzz
