Lhuan-dre Pretorius's carnage in chase carries Unicorns to top spot

San Francisco Unicorns jumped to the top spot in the MLC 2026 standings with a crushing defeat of Washington Freedom, gaining a significant Net Run Rate boost to leapfrog the Seattle Orcas.

Powered by a blistering opening stand between Lhuan-dre Pretorius (66 off 26) and Finn Allen (45 off 18), the Unicorns chased down Freedom's 190 in just 15.1 overs.

Freedom opted to bat on a slow, two-paced pitch. Their top-scorer Andries Gous batted 50 balls for an unbeaten 83, expressing happiness at reaching 190.

But Freedom's bowlers were guilty of dishing out slot balls with alarming frequency. Pretorius struck a hat-trick of sixes off Amila Aponso in a 24-run first over. Allen took down Lockie Ferguson for 18 in the next. In 2.4 overs, the pair brought up the team's 50. Before the Powerplay ended, Pretorius got a 16-ball half-century while Allen fell for an 18-ball 45 after adding 102 runs for the first wicket.

Freedom dropped three straightforward catches. Pretorius fell to Nikhil Chaudhary after hitting seven sixes and three fours in his 26-ball stay. Matt Short anchored while Aaron Hardie kept the big hits coming.

Earlier, Mitchell Owen was dropped off the first ball and made the Unicorns pay before falling for a 20-ball 39. Steve Smith struggled before losing his legstump to Haris Rauf. Gous held the innings together, reaching his fifty off 38 balls before blasting 33 off the next 12. Nikhil Chaudhary added 32 off 19 balls in a 59-run stand with Gous, pushing Freedom to 190.

Brief scores: Washington Freedom 190/4 in 20 overs (Andries Gous 83*, Mitchell Owen 39; Ghulam Mudassar 1-29) lost to San Francisco Unicorns 193/2 in 15.1 overs (Lhuan-dre Pretorius 66, Finn Allen 45; Nikhil Chaudhary 1-29) by eight wickets