Hetmyer tops Pooran with dramatic last-ball six as Orcas get first win

In a game where 475 runs were scored, it came down to Seattle Orcas needing nine from the last six balls to beat MI New York. And they almost failed to get them, with Kieron Pollard bowling three dots. But, with six needed off the last ball, Shimron Hetmyer got on one knee to a full delivery on off stump and walloped it over square leg. Just like that, Nicholas Pooran's 60-ball 108 and Tajinder Singh's 35-ball 95 went in vain.

It was Orcas' first win of the season, under new captain Sikandar Raza and without an official head coach in place. And also the highest successful chase in the two-and-a-half-season-long history of MLC.

Chasing 238 isn't easy in the best of times, and Orcas came into the game having lost all five of their earlier games, to which they reacted by parting ways with head coach Matthew Mott and replacing Heinrich Klaasen (who had stepped down) with Raza as the captain.

Wickets fell early, which is normal when Trent Boult has the new ball. In his first over, the second of the innings, Boult sent back Josh Brown. And in his next, Boult got rid of Shayan Jahangir too. but Jahangir and Kyle Mayers had made sure that the runs were coming too. Quite a lot, in fact.

If MINY had scored 62 for 2 in their powerplay, Orcas got to 86 for 3, and that was down to Raza, who walked out, faced just nine balls, hit six of them for fours and one of them for six, and was dismissed for 30. Impetus gained, that too from the new captain.

The old captain wasn't bad either. Klaasen scored 26 from 13, and Orcas had their 100 by the eighth over and were 137 for 4 at the halfway stage. It shouldn't have been tough from there, with just over 100 to get, but wickets fell, and it came down to Hetmyer, who appeared to have hurt his groin not long after walking out.

That didn't stop him, though. Orcas were always in touch with the asking rate, and Hetmyer stepped it up in the 16th over, taking Delano Potgieter for 18 runs.

MINY hit back via Rushil Ugarkar and Boult, who gave away just three and seven in the next two overs. The equation was now 32 from 12.

Hetmyer hit three sixes off Ehsan Adil to bring the game down to nine needed off six. But Jasdeep Singh missed connecting with the first two balls from Pollard, both slowers, and after a couple of singles and a double off the fifth ball, it was all or nothing. And for once this season, Orcas avoided coming up with nothing.

Earlier, the start was far from ideal for MI New York after they were asked to bat, Quinton de Kock falling in the first over to Mayers. Monank Patel did partner Pooran for a stand of 56 runs, which took their powerplay score to 62, but it wasn't one of Monank's better days, as he got his 20 from 14 balls, Pooran doing most of the scoring.

Monank's slowness was shown up big time by his USA team-mate, Tajinder. In fact, Tajinder showed up Pooran too. Their partnership for the third wicket was worth 158 runs, and it came in 68 balls. Of the 158, Tajinder scored 95. In just 35 balls. How quick was that? He fell trying to pull Gerald Coetzee over deep square leg, but holed out at the ropes. Better connection, and he would have had a 35-ball century. The MLC record is 34 balls, scored by Finn Allen earlier this season.

Of course, Pooran was slow only in comparison. He contributed 60 to the partnership off only 33 balls.

By the time Tajinder fell, his 95, scored at a strike rate of 271.42 comprising eight fours and eight sixes, Orcas were gasping. The scoreboard read 218 for 3, and three overs were left. And Pooran was still there.

But it unravelled for MI New York from there. Over No. 18, from Mayers, went for just four runs, and included the wicket of Pollard for a two-ball duck. No. 19 went for eight - with Pooran bringing up his century - and the last went for just seven. That's 19 from 18, only one of those balls going for a four. Looking back, MINY will know that's where it went wrong for them.