Phillips does it for Washington Freedom in last-ball thriller

It took the combined might of Mitchell Owen, Andries Gous, Glenn Maxwell and Glenn Phillips - not without help from Rachin Ravindra and Obus Pienaar - to match, and eventually top, Andre Fletcher on Thursday night at MLC 2025. Even then, it took till the last ball, and a dropped catch on that ball, to do it.

Los Angeles Knight Riders, down on their luck and in the points table in, put up 213 for 4 against Washington Freedom, riding on Fletcher's 60-ball 104. But it wasn't enough - though it went down to the wire thanks to an almost-fantastic last over of the chase from Andre Russell. But Freedom got over the line in the end, off the last ball, when Jason Holder dropped Phillips at mid-on off a spooned-out yorker, and climbed up to second place on the table, while Knight Riders remained at No. 5.

A chase as big as this one needed a big start, but Freedom knew what to do, having pulled off the biggest chase in MLC just the other day. This made it a one-two for them.

Owen set the ball rolling, smashing three fours and four sixes in his 16-ball 43, his contribution to a 51-run opening stand with Ravindra, who wasn't shabby either, scoring 18 off 12. Gous got in then and kept the scoreboard moving, and all of that meant a powerplay score of 73 for 1. Marginally better than Knight Riders' 67 for no loss.

But the runs needed to keep coming, and keep coming at a rate of around 10-11. That happened too. Gous fell for 31 off 27, but Maxwell got going right then, smashing 42 off 23 balls with two fours and three sixes.

Then came the next twist - Tanveer Sangha, bowling the 14th over, got rid of both Jack Edwards and Maxwell, and suddenly, it was looking loaded in Knight Riders' favour. No fear - Phillips rocked up, and hit an unbeaten 23-ball 33 to put Freedom back on top, and when the last over started, only seven runs were needed.

Russell had the ball, and started with a wide. And then Pienaar hit a four. Two needed from five. Not over. Three dot balls followed, and suddenly it was two from two. Super Over? But singles from Pienaar and Phillips off the last two balls finished the game off.

On most days, Fletcher's 104 from 60 balls - he retired out at that point - would have been on the winning side. Add to that Unmukt Chand's 41 from 30 balls in an opening stand of 130 in 12.2 overs, Sherfane Rutherford's 11-ball 20, and Russell's unbeaten 13-ball 30, and Knight Riders pretty much had the perfect batting innings, having come into the game on the back of four losses in five games.

Chand was slow - managing three fours and six and a strike rate of 136.66 in a game where runs were scored at well upwards ten an over across the two innings aren't great numbers. But with Fletcher turning it on, Knight Riders stayed above that ten-an-over mark despite Chand's lack of intent.

But his fall, in the 13th over with Fletcher 83 off 45 balls at that stage, was perhaps good from Knight Riders' point of view. It brought in Rutherford first, and after he fell after a cameo, Russell got in and got going big time right away. Fletcher's century came up in the 18th over, and he retired one ball after, his knock including seven fours and six sixes.

Russell then did his bit with bat and ball, but it was not enough for Knight Riders.