LAUDERHILL – Shimron Hetmyer once again proved to be the difference-maker for his Major League Cricket franchise, the Seattle Orcas, delivering a match-winning performance to down the high-flying San Francisco Unicorns by four wickets in Florida on Tuesday.
The West Indian’s blistering unbeaten 78 off 37 balls, studded with four boundaries and seven sixes, guided his team to victory with three balls to spare, keeping their playoff hopes alive in a tense finish.
On a sluggish Lauderhill surface, the Unicorns got off to a solid start despite losing captain Matthew Short early for two runs.
Jake Fraser-McGurk with 35 off 18 balls provided early fireworks, while Sanjay Krishnamurthi with 41 off 30 anchored the middle overs with aggressive strokeplay.
Tim Seifert struggled for fluency but held firm to score an unbeaten 31 as the lower order helped to lift the Unicorns to 168-5.
Seattle’s bowlers, led by Ayan Desai with 2-32, kept things tight at key moments, with Gerald Coetzee and Kyle Mayers conceding just seven runs in two excellent death overs.
The chase began disastrously for the Orcas as Xavier Bartlett with 2-24 struck twice in the PowerPlay, removing Steven Taylor for a duck and Mayers for just three.
At 31-2 after six overs, the innings needed a spark, and Shayan Jahangir’s 36 off 22 provided it with a violent assault on Shepherd in the eighth over. However, his dismissal alongside captain Sikandar Raza for 11 in the 10th over left the Orcas reeling at 70-4.
Enter Hetmyer, and the left-hander announced his arrival with three sixes in his first seven balls, shifting momentum decisively. Despite Heinrich Klaasen falling in the 13th over for 5, Hetmyer kept his cool, expertly manipulating the field alongside Aaron Jones, who contributed 14 runs.
The equation tightened with 55 needed off 30 balls, but Hetmyer’s calculated aggression turned the tide.
Shepherd, Bartlett, and Liam Plunkett all felt Hetmyer’s wrath as he launched sixes at the start of three consecutive overs. Plunkett’s erratic 17th over, which included a towering Hetmyer maximum and Jones’ dismissal, left Seattle needing 30 off 18.
Brody Couch bowled a mixed 18th over, but Coetzee’s boundary kept the Orcas on track. Bartlett’s penultimate over yielded nine runs, leaving Shepherd to defend eight in the final over.
Hetmyer, however, needed just two balls, smashing a monstrous six over long-on before cutting the winning runs through point, sealing a thrilling victory at 169-6 in 19.3 overs.
CMC
