Mitchell Owen fifer powers Washington Freedom to playoffs

A lower-order batting surge led by Glenn Phillips (58 off 39) followed by a scintillating fifer for Mitchell Owen helped Washington Freedom end San Francisco Unicorns' unbeaten run and secure a spot for themselves in the playoffs. Washington Freedom recovered from dire straits of 30/4 to post 169/6, before defending it despite Matthew Short's fighting efforts (67 off 40).

Freedom were rocked early after Glenn Maxwell chose to bat as Bartlett ran through the top-order inside the PowerPlay with the quick wickets of Owen - on the first ball of the innings, Andries Gous and Rachin Ravindra. Haris Rauf plunged them into further misery with the wicket of Maxwell, all inside the PowerPlay.

Jack Edwards and Phillips then plotted Freedom's recovery through a 71-run stand off 62 deliveries before Bartlett returned to dismiss the former for his fourth wicket of the game. But that opened up new hitting avenues for Freedom as Obus Pienaar (30* off 12) and Mukhtar Ahmed (17* off 9) combined with Phillips to take 69 runs off the 30 balls, which included an 18-run 20th over.

Unicorns flew off the blocks in chase as Short blazed away in the company of Finn Allen. The pair added 51 off just five overs before Amila Aponso dismissed Allen for just 7. Shortly after, Jake Fraser-McGurk was cleaned up by Rachin Ravindra. A third-wicket stand between Short and Sanjay Krishnamurthi ensued, putting the team back on track in chase. They went along nicely past the halfway stage but Owen then bowled two game-flipping overs. He first had Short caught at long-on in the 11th and then dismissed Hassan Khan and Romario Shepherd off successive balls in the 13th to leave Unicorns down to 105/6. Edwards and Ian Holland helped in turning the screws further as Unicorns dropped to 113/7 in the 16th over.

Jahmar Hamilton attempted to counter-punch with Rauf for company to drag the chase to the end but Owen bowled another double-wicket over in the 19th, taking out Rauf and Brody Couch to complete his five-wicket haul. Unicorns went into the final over needing 27 to win and wiped out 15 of it courtesy Hamilton and fell 12 runs short.

Brief Scores:Washington Freedom 169/6 in 20 overs (Glenn Phillips 58, Jack Edwards 42, Obus Pienaar 30*; Xavier Bartlett 4-32) beat San Francisco Unicorns 157/9 in 20 overs (Matthew Short 67, Jahmar Hamilton 31*; Mitchell Owen 5-17) by 12 runs