It was a clinical performance by Washington Freedom as they registered a comfortable six-wicket victory against Los Angeles Knight Riders (LAKR). With this loss, LAKR have succumbed to their third consecutive loss in a row and are at the bottom of the Major League Cricket(MC) 2026 points table. Freedom, on the other hand, are one of the four sides stuck on six points.
It was a brilliant bowling display by Freedom, led by Saurabh Netravalkar’s 3/16, which played a huge role in restricting LAKR to just 108. Mitchell Owen too chipped in with a useful spell of 3/19, while Ben Dwarshuis and Ian Holland chipped in with two wickets apiece.
It was a struggle for the LAKR batters, who have been on the wrong side of batting collapses over the last couple of matches. This game was no different. From 62/3 in 10.4 overs, they could only manage a further 46 runs at the loss of seven wickets. Rovman Powell (30) induced some momentum in his 19-ball innings, but that was not good enough to help his side to a competitive total.
Over the line with ease
In reply, despite Sunil Narine’s (2/25) impressive spell, Freedom got over the line quite comfortably. It was a scrappy innings from Steve Smith (40*), but his 62-run stand with Mark Chapman down for the third wicket proved to be vital to get their team two points.
Other than Narine, Shadley van Schalkwyk and Andre Russell picked up a wicket each.
LA will hope to get back to winning ways when they take on Texas Super Kings (TSK) on Jul 4. Freedom face San Francisco Unicorns on July 5 in a bid to win back-to-back matches for the first time this season.
Brief scores:
Los Angeles Knight Riders 108 in 17.5 overs (Rovman Powell 30, Colin Munro 25; Saurabh Netravalkar 3/16) lost to Washington Freedom 110/4 in 17.1 overs (Steve Smith 40*, Mark Chapman 34; Sunil Narine 2/25) by 6 wickets
Player of the Match: Saurabh Netravalkar
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