Shanaka takes four wickets in four balls as Seattle Orcas hold off Texas
Dasun Shanaka became the first bowler in Major League Cricket history to take four wickets in four balls, defending the final over to hand Seattle Orcas a nine-run win over Texas Super Kings in Pomona.
Jul 6, 2026
For 19 overs in Pomona this looked like a game the Seattle Orcas had let slip. They had scraped their way to 121 for 9 with the bat, and Texas Super Kings walked into the final over needing 15 with five wickets in hand. Then Dasun Shanaka bowled four deliveries that will follow him around for the rest of his career.
The Sri Lankan all-rounder took four wickets in four balls to close the innings on 112 for 9 and hand Seattle a nine-run win. No bowler had managed four in four in Major League Cricket before. Shanaka is the first.
A total that never looked enough
Seattle’s afternoon with the bat was a grind from the start. They were reduced to 15 for 3 early and 70 for 7 by the 13th over, the innings held together by cameos rather than any settled stand. Cameron Gannon, batting down at nine, top-scored with 20, and a late push from Harmeet Singh and Jasdeep dragged the total from 107 to 121 in the closing overs. On a sluggish surface it still felt short.
Texas had done the hard work in the field. Amshi de Silva picked up 3 for 15 and Adam Milne went for just 10 in his four overs, and for most of the chase the Super Kings looked to be in control.
Baartman keeps Seattle in it
What gave the Orcas a pulse was Ottneil Baartman. The South African seamer returned 3 for 9 from his four overs, removing Faf du Plessis for 14, Saiteja Mukkamalla for 6 and Wiaan Mulder for 7 to keep chipping at the top order. Texas kept losing wickets without ever losing touch with the rate, and Shubham Ranjane held the innings together with an unbeaten 40.
By the time the last over arrived Texas were 107 for 5, needing 15 with Ranjane set and Donovan Ferreira, who had already struck two fours and a six, alongside him. Fifteen off the final over with five wickets in the shed is a chase you back nine times out of ten.
Four balls that made history
Ranjane picked off a boundary early in the over, and that was as good as it got for Texas. Shanaka bowled Ferreira with a slower ball, then had Calvin Savage hole out to long-on off the next delivery. Adam Milne edged the hat-trick ball through to wicketkeeper Tim Seifert, and Shanaka completed the set when Amshi de Silva picked out Shimron Hetmyer at long-on. Four balls, four wickets, and a game that had drifted away from Seattle belonged to them.
Shanaka finished with 4 for 26 and, unsurprisingly, the player-of-the-match award. It was the first hat-trick of the 34-year-old’s professional career, and it put him alongside compatriot Lasith Malinga among the short list of bowlers to have taken four in four in any format. It is the kind of over that rewrites a night: Texas went from cruising to all out, and the Orcas walked off with a win almost nobody in the ground would have backed at the top of the over.
A sting at the top
The result keeps Seattle’s Major League Cricket 2026 campaign ticking over and stings a Texas side that had been among the early pace-setters this season. With the league stage heading into its final stretch, margins this fine carry extra weight, and few will bite quite like watching a chase you had all but won come apart in the space of four balls.