Bartlett blitz gives Unicorns against-the-odds win over MI New York
For the longest time, MI New York seemed to have done enough to win two points, but then Xavier Bartlett smashed them for a 25-ball 59 not out
ESPNcricinfo staff
16-Jun-2025 • 12 hrs ago
Xavier Bartlett hit four fours and five sixes in his innings • Sportzpics for MLC
San Francisco Unicorns 188 for 7 (Bartlett 59*, Hassan 43, Seifert 33, Naveen 2-28, Adil 2-43) beat MI New York 182 for 7 (De Kock 63, Pollard 30, Rauf 2-24, le Roux 2-34, Hassan 2-54) by three wickets
Xavier Bartlett walked out at No. 8 against MI New York, with San Francisco Unicorns at 108 for 6 in 12.2 overs, still 74 behind. Before this game, he had a T20 batting average of 14.10 and a strike rate of 108.50. On Sunday, he smashed a bowling attack headlined by Trent Boult, Naveen-ul-Haq, Michael Bracewell and Ehsan Adil for four fours and five sixes on his way to an unbeaten 25-ball 59. And with it, Unicorns snatched a win that was MINY's for the taking, and were three wins out of three and strong at the top of the MLC 2025 points table.
For Unicorns, chasing 183 for victory, Finn Allen was gone in the second over, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Sanjay Krishnamurthi in the third and fourth respectively, and Cooper Connolly on the last ball of the powerplay, which ended at 42 for 4. MINY were very much on top and it felt like their first win of the season was just a matter of time.
But Hassan Khan, who had earlier conceded 54 runs in his four overs, then joined Tim Seifert. Seifert had been waging a lone battle till then, but Hassan provided the impetus, contributing 43 runs in 17 balls in their 64-run stand in just 31 balls. Despite that, when Bartlett walked out and Unicorns lost captain Corey Anderson soon after, MINY were still favourites. Till they were hit by the Bartlett blitz.
Earlier, after being asked to bat, MINY rode on Quinton de Kock's 38-ball 63 at the top of the order and cameos from Kieron Pollard and Sunny Patel to get to a competitive total.
De Kock scored his 63 from just 38 balls, but there was little from the other end while he was around, and when he was dismissed in the 12th over, with the scoreboard reading 102 for 4, it seemed like MINY would stop under par. But Pollard slammed four sixes in a nine-ball 16th over from Hassan to turn the tide and Sunny chipped in with an unbeaten 11-ball 20 from No. 8. For a long time, it seemed like the total would be enough but Bartlett ensured it wasn't so.