Seattle Orcas vs San Francisco Unicorns Preview & Prediction | 2024 Major League Cricket | League Stage
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Last season’s Major League Cricket runners’ up, the Seattle Orcas, come into this one on the back of a difficult season so far whereby they are fighting for a place in the next phase as they come up against a San Francisco Unicorns side that were thumped by the Texas Super Kings in their most recent outing.
DATE & TIME: Monday 15th July, 2024 - USA ET – 3:00pm / USA PT – 12:00pm / West Indies – 2:00pm / UK – 8:00pm / South Africa – 9:00pm / Tuesday 16th July, 2024 - Pakistan – 12:00am / India – 12:30am / Bangladesh – 1:00am / Australia – 10:00pm
VENUE: Church Street Park, Morrisville, North Carolina, United States
WEATHER: 36c or 96.8 F with clear, sunny skies
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: USA – Willow TV / West Indies – TBA / UK – TNT Sports / South Africa – ESPN / Pakistan – A Sports / India – TBA / Bangladesh – TBA / Australia – N/A
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: USA – Willow TV / West Indies – TBA / UK – TNT Sports app / South Africa – ESPN+ app / Pakistan – A Sports / India – TBA / Bangladesh – TBA / Australia – Amazon Prime Video
SEATTLE ORCAS FORM: MUST REACT FROM THUMPING
Seattle Orcas most recently suffered a hammering at the hands of an impressive Washington Freedom side at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas last week. They were bowled out for just 124 in 19.4 overs before Freedom cruised through with an eight-wicket victory. The Orcas currently sit at the bottom-of-the-table.
LAST THREE: LWLLW
SAN FRANCISCO UNICORNS FORM: MUST REACT FROM THUMPING
The San Francisco Unicorns come into this one on the back of their own shaky start to the 2024 Major League Cricket season. Their most recent played match, ignoring the abandonment against the Los Angeles Knight Riders, saw them hammered by the Texas Super Kings with the Unicorns being bowled out for just 127 before TSK chased it in 12.5 overs.
LAST THREE: ALWLL
SEATTLE ORCAS BETTING ANALYSIS
The Seattle Orcas have reshuffled their top order already in this tournament with Quinton de Kock moving down to three behind Ryan Rickelton and Nauman Anwar. De Kock has been in poor form for some time now, though, and the Orcas’ best bet of getting runs has been via captain Heinrich Klaasen with Klaasen scoring 30+ seemingly always a good option.
It is a fairly weak attack that the Orcas possess with the likes of Imad Wasim, Nandre Burger, Cameron Gannon, Harmeet Singh and Zaman Khan providing little potency. That said, it is South African Burger that has often looked to be the most controlled and Burger to be the Orcas’ top bowler would be a reasonable shout.
SAN FRANCISCO UNICORNS BETTING ANALYSIS
It is a modern day top order for the San Francisco Unicorns and it is a top order that should look to threaten most bowling attacks. Josh Inglis has been demoted down to five with Sanjay Krishnamurthi moving up but neither of those players their biggest threat. That falls on the shoulders of Matthew Short and whilst the Australian is hit and miss so 30+ is not always as likely as the aforementioned Klaasen, he is likely to be the Unicorns’ top batter in the match.
Haris Rauf and Liam Plunkett are symbols of what is an ageing and actually ineffective Unicorns’ bowling attack. Abrar Ahmed appears more suited to Test cricket so the responsibility to take two or more wickets in the match is actually on Hassan Khan.
SEATTLE ORCAS VS SAN FRANCISCO UNICORNS EXPERT PREDICTION
This is a weird game because both sides found their batting line-ups totally outplayed in previous matches, both being bowled out for fairly low scores. However, their respective bowling attacks would appear to be the weakest sections of their sides on paper. That means, with a response needed from both, it could end up being a surprisingly high scoring match and if that is the case then the Unicorns’ top order should be tipped to out score their opposition most times.
SEATTLE ORCAS VS SAN FRANCISCO UNICORNS TOP TIP: SAN FRANCISCO UNICORNS TO WIN
