Washington Freedom 245 for 5 (Owen 155) beat MI New York 215 (Pollard 100*, Bosch 35*, Maxwell 2-37) by 30 runs
Mitchell Owen smashed the highest score in MLC history to power Washington Freedom to victory over MI New York (MINY), on a day when Kieron Pollard set an even more significant benchmark: he went past Chris Gayle to become the leading run-getter in all Men's T20s.
Pollard got there, typically, with a six, launching Asif Mehmood over long-off to go from 79 to 85 in this match, and from 14,561 to 14,567 on overall aggregate, off the first ball of the 19th over of MINY's chase of 246. The match was all but over as a contest, with MINY starting that over needing 67 off 12 balls, but Pollard ensured there was still plenty of interest in it. He went on to finish unbeaten on 100 off 56 balls, bringing up his second T20 hundred - his first one came back in 2018 - off the last ball of the match.
Until then, this game had belonged entirely to Owen, who at one stage had seemed on course to break another coveted Gayle record, for highest individual score in T20s, and he didn't just have the Jamaican's 175* in his sights. He reached a 41-ball century in the tenth over of Freedom's innings, and had already hit nine sixes by then. Mathematically, 200 seemed a distinct possibility, especially when he raced from 100 to 150 in just 20 balls.
But MINY pulled things back with the ball, dismissing Owen for 155 off 68 in the 17th over, and conceding no boundaries between the last ball of the 14th over and the last ball of the innings. In all, Freedom scored just 36 in their last six overs.
Still, 246 proved too stiff a target for MINY, particularly after they lost both openers in the first over of the chase, with Glenn Maxwell dismissing Monank Patel before Quinton de Kock fell to a run-out. Maxwell struck again in his next over, having Nicholas Pooran caught at short fine leg, and MINY were 22 for 3.
They slumped further to 64 for 5, before they recovered courtesy Pollard and their batting depth. Pollard put on 70 off 40 balls with Romario Shepherd for the sixth wicket, and an unbroken 81 off 34 with Corbin Bosch for the seventh. This innings was an unusual one for Pollard, including 11 fours and only four sixes. When it came time to reach the big milestone, however, he did so in trademark fashion.
