Rovman Powell's six-hitting spree headlines LAKR's dominant win

Powered by their West Indian starcast, Los Angeles Knight Riders made it two wins in two, cruising to a comfortable victory over Seattle Orcas in their Major League Cricket (MLC) fixture on Sunday (June 21).

Put in to bat first, LAKR openers Andre Fletcher and Colin Munro punished slot balls and craftily eked out gaps in the Powerplay to set the tone early. Having conceded 58/0 in the first six, the Orcas found a breakthrough with a pace-off delivery from Ottneil Baartman, currently leading the wicket charts. The slower ones would end up being a defining factor throughout the game.

Unmukt Chand (19) briefly collaborated with Fletcher, but his departure brought in Sunil Narine for a rare gig at No.4, potentially to keep a left-right pairing going. On 15, he was undone by a searing Baartman yorker, a surprise attack among a mix-bag of pace-off deliveries.

Fletcher kept going but could have been sent back in the ninth over itself, if not for a fluffed run-out chance. Five balls after Narine though, Fletcher departed too. From 85/1, the Knight Riders slipped to 110/4 in the 13th over.

Jason Holder, the man who can do little wrong these days, brought out his long levers briefly, but it was Rovman Powell, at the other end, who launched a ferocious counterattack to steal the limelight.

In a flurry of fierce leg-side hits (and one straighter strike), Powell tore into Dasun Shanaka with five sixes in a row. Pace alterations and a change of sides did little: after the fourth strike, Shanaka could only smile and shake his head in disbelief. Desperate to make it six in six, Powell threw his hands at the last ball, a shorter, slower one, anticlimactically top-edging it to short third man. Shanaka escaped an unfortunate entry into the record books.

The lower-order tried to keep up, but in a seven-ball sequence, they slipped and fell from 192/6 to 196 all out.

Still, it was more than enough for the Knight Riders.

The Orcas couldn't mimic the quick start: tied up in the first two overs, they gave Sunil Narine the first breakthrough. Tim Seifert, the centurion from four days ago, fell to a sharp catch by Holder.

Holder's second over, worth 17 runs, briefly gave Orcas a push, but Narine came back to sneak one through to Matthew Breetzke's stumps, reclaiming control for LAKR.

Looking to make the most of the sixth over, the Orcas slipped up badly, giving away two wickets to Carmi le Roux. At 43/4, the climb looked too steep.

Shimron Hetmyer and Dasun Shanaka arrested the slide momentarily, but there was no big counterpunch. Brought on in the ninth over, Shadley van Schalkwyk's double strike, via slower ones, took out those two as well, sending the Orcas packing at 62/6. There was no coming back.

The 12th over, worth 17 runs, was a small blip in a flatlining chase. No one from the top seven crossed 15. Harmeet Singh, at eight, top-scored with 25 from eight. In all, they managed four sixes, one less than what Powell did across five balls.

Russell did the rest of the clean-up with two off-cutters and one faster one, a quick summary of how the Orcas were troubled by pace change-ups throughout the innings. After back-to-back 200+ scores, they eventually folded for 115. Placed fifth out of six, they now have a three-day gap to regroup. For table-toppers LAKR, a five-day break awaits.

Brief scores: Los Angeles Knight Riders 196/10 in 20 overs (Andre Fletcher 40, Rovman Powell 37; Jasdeep Singh 3-29, Ottneil Baartman 3-36) beat Seattle Orcas 115/10 in 15.3 overs (Harmeet Singh 25, Dasun Shanaka 14; Andre Russell 3-8, Shadley van Schalkwyk 3-17) by 81 runs.