Another batting collapse leaves LAKR rooted to the bottom

Neither a new stadium, nor a two-day tournament break could help arrest Los Angeles Knight Riders' slide in MLC 2026, losing to Washington Freedom to mark their third straight defeat.

The city of Pomona, named after the ancient Roman goddess of fruit, watched on as the Knight Riders produced a fruitless batting display on their new home ground. Opting to bat first after two bungled chases, they scratched their way to 108 all out, which did not pose a serious challenge to Freedom despite the slow and variable nature of the wicket.

The ball was lifting off the surface during LAKR's Powerplay, which got off to a poor start with Andre Fletcher's early dismissal. Having dropped Unmukt Chand and Saif Badar, they rejigged their batting to bring up Matthew Tromp, who had so far been coming in late and clearing ropes in vain. For his 14 balls, Tromp could barely put bat on ball, before back-to-back sixes got him going. But that was about it.

Colin Munro, meanwhile, did what he has been so far: dropping anchor and resisting any real big hits. Placed at 40/1 after six, their attempt to be watchful slid into a quiet, hollow passage of play. Ian Holland used his cutters well, taking out Jahmar Hamilton with a slow bouncer, while Ben Dwarshuis, returning after a neat new-ball spell, claimed Munro courtesy of a diving Steve Smith catch.

In the next six overs, they only added 25 runs, losing three wickets. Steve Smith had called the pitch "tacky" at the toss. Tacky, it was.

Saurabh Netravalkar - left out in the previous game - then entered the scene to prise out both Jason Holder and Andre Russell in the same over. He would later reveal that the scrambled seam was doing well with the pitch's variable bounce.

Rovman Powell was the only batter with any sort of fluency going for him: even to slowish offerings, he used pure power to muscle them to the leg-side. If it weren't for his 19-ball 30, LAKR would not have inched past the 100-run mark.

Sunil Narine, batting at four last week, was down to eight, but neither he, nor the rest of the tail could provide any support to Powell. Mitch Owen, also using his cutters well, took two-in-two to prevent any resistance.

Freedom could afford to be watchful in response. LAKR's best chance was to frontload Narine and hope for an almighty collapse. They got a whiff of it as Owen and Andries Gous succumbed cheaply, both losing their stumps to Narine's magic. At 14/2, the chase was taking an interesting shape.

Keen to press on, Holder bowled himself out inside the Powerplay itself. And while it seemed like a prudent call, it also meant Freedom could silently pass through the passage without taking risks. Placed at 64/2 after ten overs, they weren't really bothered by the run-rate.

Freedom would have had few players better than Steve Smith to stay put and navigate through the chase. Alongside Mark Chapman, who did the early scoring, Smith smartly nudged along: their partnership prevented any more drama, forming the base for Freedom's pursuit on what he later admitted was a "tricky wicket to bat on". Echoing his assessment, Holder admitted having misread the wicket, saying it did not turn out to be as good as they had thought.

In a fast-moving points table, LAKR are now at the bottom. Freedom, meanwhile, have moved to four. Two days from now, the Knight Riders will get another shot at correcting their course against Texas Super Kings. A three-day rest follows for Freedom.

Brief scores:Los Angeles Knight Riders 108/10 in 17.5 overs (Rovman Powell 30, Colin Munro 25; Saurabh Netravalkar 3-16, Mitchell Owen 3-19) lost to Washington Freedom 110/4 in 17.1 overs (Steve Smith 40*, Mark Chapman 34; Sunil Narine 2-25, Andre Russell 1-22) by six wickets.