Jack Edwards picks four as Washington Freedom down San Francisco Unicorns

Australian all-rounder Jack Edwards returned four wickets while Ian Holland and Ben Dwarshuis picked two each to set up Washington Freedom's comfortable five-wicket win over San Francisco Unicorns.

The Knight Riders Cricket Field in Pomona reverted to its early self, giving bowlers seam movement and inconsistent bounce to work with. Such a vagary of the pitch played into the strengths of Edwards, who scalped three in a single Powerplay over to rock the Unicorns early. They managed just 126 before getting bowled out, which was chased down in the 19th over through a Steve Smith half-century and an equally crucial hand from Mark Chapman worth 44 runs.

Dwarshuis got Freedom going with the wicket of Lhuan-dre Pretorius in the third over. Edwards then took out the other opener - Finn Allen - in the last over of the Powerplay where he also sent Aaron Hardie back - courtesy a one-handed blinder of a catch at first slip from Smith. Sanjay Krishnamurthi then nicked one behind in the same over for a duck, leaving the Unicorns down to 45/4.

Mitchell Owen struck after the Powerplay to leave them in further doldrums at 56/5, after which a defiant stand ensued. Captain Matthew Short and Hassan Khan added 53 off the next 7.5 overs to achieve a modicum of revival, until Dwarshuis dismissed the former in the 17th over. The lower-order couldn't propel the team at the death as they were bundled out for 126 - losing the last five wickets for just 28 runs.

There was still hope for Unicorns as Freedom endured starting troubles of their own. Xavier Bartlett, Haris Rauf and Brody Couch reduced them to 14/3 in the Powerplay where their experiment to send Edwards out to open failed. Owen and Gous were the other two batters to depart, leaving the middle-order to do the bulk of the work in chase. Luckily for them, the total wasn't daunting enough for the bowlers to make something off it despite the start they provided.

Smith and Chapman put on 72 runs in 10 overs since the fall of the third wicket, effectively ending any hopes for Unicorns to stage a dramatic second-half comeback. By the time Rauf dismissed Chapman in the 14th over, Freedom were well on their way to a win. Chapman fell six short of his fifty but Smith completed his before Couch sent him back. Both however, did enough to secure the win that was wrapped up at the start of the 19th over.

Brief Scores: San Francisco Unicorns 126 in 19.3 overs (Matthew Short 39; Jack Edwards 4-13, Ian Holland 2-16, Ben Dwarshuis 2-27) lost to Washington Freedom 129/5 in 18.1 overs (Steve Smith 56, Mark Chapman 44; Brody Couch 2-24, Haris Rauf 2-27) by 5 wickets