WAF VS SFU FINAL

Right then, with Washington Freedom winning the coveted trophy of the second season of Major League Cricket, it brings an end to this action-filled cricket tournament. We enjoyed covering every bit of it and we hope that you too relished our coverage. We will be back next year with more excitement from MLC. However, cricketing action doesn’t stop around the world and you can tune in to our coverage of The Hundred Women at 7.30 pm IST (2 pm GMT) followed by The Hundred Men at 11.05 pm IST (5.35 pm GMT). The Olympics in Paris will also be the highlight in the sporting world for a couple of weeks where a lot of sports will be on display. That is it from our side, goodbye cheers and take care!

Washington Freedom receive their trophy and they pose for a few photos with all the coaching staff. The celebrations erupt and the players take turns having their photos clicked with the trophy.

Steven Smith is up for a chat. He was also the Player of the Match for this game. He says that it was nice to contribute and that it has been a good season. Adds that it has been a good bunch of guys and they have enjoyed themselves off the field as well. Mentions that they talked about trusting the process and feels that the team did an exceptional job. Says that they try everyone to feel that they are a part of the squad and all players had each other's backs. Mentions that everyone stood up at different times of the tournament and credits the batters for being the strength of the team. Appreciated the bowlers as well to take on the pressure and perform well. He then moves on to collect the winning trophy.

The Washington Freedom players now take turns and accept their championship medals.

Travis Head is the Player of the Tournament for his consistent performance, scoring 336 runs for his team consisting of five half-centuries.. He says that he is looking forward to the few weeks off after this and he feels delighted to clinch the title. Adds that a few afternoon naps helps him chill before the game and then think of what to do when you arrive for training and see what the bowlers are bowling. Mentions that he is enjoying his life in USA and he has had a brilliant time even off the field playing Golf. Says that he and Smith complement each other and it felt nice to have a familiar face on the other end.

Faf du Plessis, the skipper of the Texas Super Kings is the recipient of the award for being the leading run-scorer of the tournament. Faf scored 420 runs in the 8 innings he played.

Saurabh Netravalkar gets the award for the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 15 wickets for Washington Freedom.

The Bart King Award for the best domestic player of the tournament goes to Hassan Khan for his all-round performance. He says that it has been a wonderful tournament and he is happy to contribute to the team's cause. Adds that he is fortunate for him to perform well with the bat and spend some time out in the middle. Says that the strength he has while batting is natural and mentions that the management trusted his batting and allowed him to bat higher up the order. Feels that having Pat Cummins in their dressing room was a valuable experience and he learned a lot from him.

The match officials now walk up to the stage to receive their gifts for their on-point decision-making and for making sure that the game progresses smoothly.

Corey Anderson, the captain of San Francisco Unicorns is up for a chat. He says they are extremely disappointed as they came here expecting to lift the trophy and failed to do so. Adds the Smith and Maxwell partnership took the game away from them and it is hard to stop those guys when they are on song and they failed to execute their plans. Mentions they came out confident while chasing this total but they lost wickets early and they faded very quickly in the pace and lost their way in the chase. Says he is proud of the side and the way the players have played throughout. Closes by saying that this competition is going from strength to strength and is on the way up as we see more and more International stars featuring here.

Steven Smith, the skipper of Washington Freedom is the Player of the Match for his impactful knock of 88 runs in 52 deliveries consisting of 7 fours and 6 sixes.

The Presentation ceremony…

Earlier in the innings, we saw a very strong batting performance from Washington Freedom. Steven Smith had to do the heavy lifting for a major part of the innings but when partnered with Glenn Maxwell, the runs came in from both ends and took them to a strong position. A sudden boost by Mukhtar Ahmed at the end powered them past 200. In the bowling department, it was Pat Cummins with his two wickets who shone out. Carmi le Roux had an off day and went wicketless while the others got one each.

Andries Gous says it has been awesome and all players dream of lifting such a trophy. Mentions that this is such an amazing feeling to be crowned as champions. Thanks the fans for their support and the number in which they have come out to support them. Closes by saying that everybody wants to come to the USA and such a quality tournament will help their cause.

Rachin Ravindra from Washington Freedom is up for a short chat as well. He says he loved to play with so many international stars and the way the Aussie core planned and executed the skills shows why they are a champion side. Mentions that the boys had done the job early with both bat and ball and all he needed to do was pick up the last few at the end.

Ricky Ponting, the coach of Washington Freedom is up for a chat and says he arrived a bit late and left the training to the staff. Says that the backroom support was just tremendous. Mentions that Smith pretty much won the game single-handedly with the way he played and he executed what we had planned which was to play the natural way and not let the occasion get big on anyone. Mentions that the condition they have had has been fantastic and the way the sides have performed throughout the season has been brilliant as well.

We have some interviews lined up. Starting with Saurabh Netravalkar who says that he is grateful for this platform and sharing the dressing room with such stars is a nice feeling. Mentions that this could well be the backbone of domestic cricket for the USA and the crowd coming in is a good sign of things to come. Andrew Tye joins him and agrees with Netravalkar. He adds that it is a nice feeling to work with the unit and they learn a lot by picking their brains.

Washington Freedom started off extremely well with the early wicket of Marco Jansen. Saurabh Netravalkar soon followed up in his second over. Jansen got rid of the dangerous Finn Allen as well to put his team in a strong spot. Glenn Maxwell, Rachin Ravindra, and Andrew Tye worked in tandem to take 4 wickets in 3 overs. Jansen got rid of Hassan Khan and that left them with the bowlers to deal with. Rachin Ravindra did the cleaning up towards the end and sealed a win for them. Ravindra was the pick of the bowlers for his spell of 4-0-23-3 along with Marco Jansen with his spell of 4-1-28-3. Andrew Tye clinched two while Glenn Maxwell and Saurabh Netravalkar, who is the leading wicket-taker in this series ended his season with one to his name.

The San Francisco Unicorns had a shaky start. They didn’t look comfortable and Jake Fraser-McGurk succumbed first. Sanjay Krishnamurthy and Finn Allen couldn’t stitch a partnership and got sent back in a span of one over. Sherfane Rutherford, Josh Inglis, and Corey Anderson too couldn’t make any significant impact and played rash shots to throw their wicket away. Those three could only get 23 runs on the board. The Unicorns slipped from being 30/1 in 3.4 overs to 53/6 in 8.3 overs. That period was the one where the game slipped out completely from their hands. Cummins came in and played some lusty blows along with Hassan Khan but the curtains were already drawn for their side. It was then onto the bowlers who tried to free their arms before being cleaned up for 111 in 16 overs.

WASHINGTON FREEDOM ARE THE 2024 MAJOR LEAGUE CRICKET CHAMPIONS! After a strong performance with the bat, they showed dominance with the ball as well and made sure to be the second team to lift the trophy. The celebrations erupt and so do the firecrackers around the ground.