San Francisco Unicorns hit the front in Major League Cricket 2026
Back-to-back wins, capped by an eight-wicket rout of Washington Freedom, have carried the San Francisco Unicorns to the top of Major League Cricket 2026.
Jul 1, 2026
The San Francisco Unicorns have timed their run beautifully in Major League Cricket 2026. An eight-wicket demolition of Washington Freedom at the Oakland Coliseum on June 28 carried them to the top of the table, and it was built on a start to the chase that Washington’s bowlers will want to forget in a hurry.
Set 191 to win, the Unicorns barely broke stride. Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Finn Allen put on 102 in 5.4 overs, and by the time the stand was broken the target was already halved. Pretorius made 66 from 26 balls and walked off with the player-of-the-match award; Allen’s 45 came off 18. Matthew Short and Aaron Hardie knocked off the rest, unbeaten on 34 and 42, as San Francisco reached 193 for 2 with almost five overs unused.
Andries Gous had at least given Washington a score to defend, an unbeaten 83 off 50 balls, but 190 for 4 looked a long way short the moment Pretorius and Allen got going.
From a nervy escape to a rout
Two nights earlier the Unicorns had done it the hard way. Chasing Seattle Orcas’ 191 on June 26, again at Oakland, they scrambled home by two wickets with two balls to spare and finished on 192 for 8. Pretorius carried them most of the way with 87 from 39 balls before a jumpy lower order nearly let it slip. Back-to-back wins, one white-knuckle and one one-sided, have turned a mixed start into real momentum.
Du Plessis and the chasing pack
The side San Francisco leapfrogged were Faf du Plessis’s Texas Super Kings, who had climbed to the front themselves with a six-wicket win over MI New York in the lowest-scoring game of the season so far. Du Plessis, who became the first batter to pass 1,000 career runs in MLC in June, remains the tournament’s most bankable name. MI New York, the defending champions after beating Washington in last year’s final, are still hunting the rhythm that won them the 2025 title.
The run-in
The competition now moves west. Seven matches are set for the Fairplex in Pomona, California, between July 1 and July 5, before the season closes with the final at the Oakland Coliseum on July 18. San Francisco’s job is to hold a position they took their time reaching. Washington’s, after three defeats in five, is to rescue a campaign that is already running short of road.