Hetmyer's Heroics Secure Orcas' First Win of the Season

Shimron Hetmyer's final-ball six sealed a thrilling victory for Seattle Orcas, ending their winless streak in MLC 2025. Hetmyer's heroics nullified an epic batting effort from Nicholas Pooran (108* off 60) and Tajinder Dhillon (95 off 35).

The Orcas, who had suffered five consecutive defeats, made a mid-season reshuffle, replacing head coach Matthew Mott and captain Heinrich Klaasen with Sikandar Raza. The changes seemed to pay off as Hetmyer, along with middle-order support, pulled off the highest successful run-chase in MLC history.

The Orcas' chase was marked by aggressive batting, with Kyle Mayers, Shayan Jahangir, and Raza contributing to the cause. Hetmyer, however, was the star of the show, counter-punching against Delano Potgieter and Rushil Ugarkar. Despite struggling with an injury, Hetmyer kept scoring, eventually hitting the winning six off the final delivery.

Earlier, Pooran and Dhillon put on a batting clinic, sharing a 158-run stand for the third wicket. The Orcas bowlers struggled, but managed to restrict MI New York to 237/4. The Orcas' bowling effort improved towards the end, with Mayers, Jessy Singh, and Cameron Gannon conceding only 19 runs off the last 18 deliveries.

Brief Scores: MI New York 237/4 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 108*, Tajinder Dhillon 95; Kyle Mayers 2-34) lost to Seattle Orcas 238/7 in 20 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 97*, Kyle Mayers 37, Sikandar Raza 30; Trent Boult 3-31) by 3 wickets