Owen, Gous help Washington Freedom pull off record chase in MLC
Owen scored 89 and Gous 80 not out as Freedom chased down TSK's 220 for 6 with two balls remaining
ESPNcricinfo staff
23-Jun-2025 • 8 hrs ago
Mitchell Owen was named the Player of the Match for his 89 off 52 and 3 for 33 • MLC
Washington Freedom 223 for 3 (Owen 89, Gous 80*, Milne 3-42) beat Texas Super Kings 220 for 6 (du Plessis 69, Stoinis 32, Owen 3-33) by seven wickets
Washington Freedom pulled off the highest successful chase in MLC as they chased down Texas Super Kings' 220 for 6 with seven wickets and two balls to spare. The previous record was 201, chased down by MI New York against Seattle Orcas earlier this week.
Mitchell Owen (89 off 52) and Andries Gous (80 not out off 45) were the chief architects of Freedom's win, ensuring TSK captain Faf du Plessis' 69 off 31 went in vain.
After TSK were sent in, du Plessis gave his side a flying start, hitting four fours and two sixes in the first four overs. Smit Patel had contributed only 8 off 11 balls till then. But when Owen came for the fifth over, he hit his first three balls for 6, 6, 4. Owen dismissed Patel on the very next ball but there was little respite as du Plessis finished the over with a boundary.
Du Plessis brought up his half-century off just 20 balls before becoming Owen's second victim. Marcus Stoinis and Milind Kumar then took over and added 42 in just 26 balls for the fourth wicket. Shubham Ranjane applied the finishing touches with an unbeaten 26 off ten balls, with TSK ransacking 56 from the last four overs. For Freedom, Owen picked up 3 for 33 from three overs and Glenn Maxwell 2 for 35 from four.
Owen and Rachin Ravindra gave Freedom a steady start of 38 in 4.3 overs. Following that, Owen and Gous took the side to 96 for 1 after ten overs. With another 125 required, TSK were still the favourites, but Owen and Gous turned the game around in the 12th and 13th overs, smashing Noor Ahmad for 22 and Donovan Ferreira for 24. In those 12 balls, Owen and Gous hit a combined five sixes and three fours to reduce the equation to 69 needed from seven overs.
Owen fell to Adam Milne at the start of the 15th over but Gous carried on. With 20 needed from two overs, TSK still had a chance. Maxwell hit Milne for a six off the first ball of the 19th but the seamer sent Maxwell back two balls later. It came down to 11 needed from seven balls before Glenn Phillips' six reduced the requirement to five from the final over.
Bowling the final over, Stoinis conceded three singles off the first three balls before Phillips the next ball past backward point to seal the win.