Washington Freedom vs Seattle Orcas, 9th Match, Major League Cricket 2026 - CommentaryWAF vs SOR, 9th Match, Major League Cricket 2026 - Commentary

Seattle Orcas jump to the second spot with this massive victory while the Freedom have been pushed to the bottom. Nine games done, three teams are on 4 points while the other three are on 2 points. The boundaries are small here in Oakland but the decks aren't straightforward for stroke-making. Both matches have been won by teams batting first. Will that trend continue? Tune in tomorrow for the double-header. Until then, goodbye...

Marcus Stoinis: (On getting the best out of the batters) That's the secret. Obviously there's power there, it's just about unleashing at the right time and that's what our top-order has done in three out of four games. They put on good partnerships which has allowed us to come in at the right time. We actually weren't required for a couple of games. Today, it was a complete team effort. Everyone that was asked to something made an impact in the game and sizeable impacts, so really impressive. (How did the bowling group prepare?) This ground lends itself to consistency around the stumps. We saw, if you erred bit short, you'd get hit. And if you go a bit too full, you'd get hit. There's enough there with the ball, so we knew it was just about consistency. We had pretty clear plans, simple plans but doesn't make it easy to execute. Hats off to all the boys that executed that. We know it's not easy and they did it well. (On his captaincy) Cricket's growing here. I am with a new franchise. The franchise is doing well, the environment is great. And add some winning to that, it gets better and better

Steve Smith: (Did you feel 227 too much at the break?) Yeah it was probably a lot on that surface. We probably didn't quite execute with the ball, in the field. Made quite a few errors, but, yeah, I thought they played really nicely. Hety (Hetmyer) obviously had a really good innings at the end, and Marcus (Stoinis), and Seifert got off to a good start, so, yeah, they played well. (Was it a tactical decision to bowl full?) I think we were probably just a little bit short in stages and a little bit too full, but they probably hit the lengths more often than not, so made things difficult for our batters. But, yeah, we'll learn from that and turn things around quickly for our game in two days time. (What did you learn about this surface?) Oh, just looked like it got a bit easier potentially as the innings went on and just play to your strengths. Not the easiest of wickets to bat on, give yourselves a few balls to get in and then play to your strengths.

Jasdeep Singh | MVP: First of all, I am very grateful to be here. The last couple of months were tough on me after the World Cup injury. Coming into the tournament, I was a bit nervous, but still backed myself with all the work I put behind the yards. Obviously, we analyse after every year and see what you can improve and I certainly knew I need to come with some new skill. This league is getting better and better every year. Lot of effort behind it, and I'm grateful. I think I'll keep improving every game, that's the way to go. Just want to give a shout-out to the Seattle management, the coaches and everyone. Despite being injured, I wasn't really fit during the retention time, and they still backed me and I'm really grateful for that. And want to shout-out to my wife and kid in the stands. This one is them and for my family back home, these guys have been the pillar behind me through thick and thin. Really grateful to have a support like this. I trust his (Stonis's) thought process. I knew he'd bring me at the right time. And I think it's more about winning the game than me picking up wickets. I'm really happy the way the game went today.

On a slow-ish track 227 seemed like an above-par track but Washington Freedom had a powerful batting line-up. However, none of their batters got going today. The openers - Smith and Owen - fell cheaply to Jasdeep Singh and Baartman respectively. Jasdeep picked three wickets in the fifth over and that almost sealed the deal for the Orcas. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Jasdeep came back to bag a fifer. If not for those lusty blows towards the end from Holland and Aponso, WF's margin of defeat would have been more than 80 runs.

21:38 Local Time, 04:38 GMT, 10:08 IST: Big win for Seattle Orcas. Inserted to bat, they got off to a brisk start with Tim Seifert being the aggressor. Washington Freedom pulled things back after the powerplay with a couple of wickets. They were 79/2 at the end of the 10th over but ended up posting 227 on the board, courtesy brutal hitting from Hetmyer and Stoinis and of course some poor bowling from WF.

Gannon to Saurabh Netravalkar, THATS OUT!! Caught!!