Washington vs Los Angeles, 8th Match at Oakland, MLC, Jun 17 2025 - Match Result

That concludes our MLC action for today. Thank you for tuning in. Do join us tomorrow at the same time. Until then, this is Rashad Mahbub signing off on behalf of Thilak Ramamurthy and the whole ESPNcricinfo team. Goodbye!

Most Valuable Player, Glenn Maxwell: "I gave myself a chance and being captain, you sort of feel that responsibility to carry on for the team. I sort of put aside my first 20 balls and just invest as much as I possibly can. And that really paid off. I felt like I was able to get to a position where we had to go, and we had to try and get ourselves to a tally that we could defend. And I probably had about 155- 160 in my head, and thought it was going to be difficult at some stages, and I was just able to hit pretty consistently at the back end. And probably got more than I thought we would get. It feels like different stages. I feel like, even in India, I've felt it straight away when I've got over there. And sometimes the results haven't quite gone their way. And it'll take an innings like this, where I can start to sort of get a bit of a roll. Even like the other night, I felt like just a bit of time out in the middle was all I needed to feel that confidence coming back. I'll probably let him [Ponting] down in a few of the tournaments that we've played together. It's nice that last year we were able to have success in the Freedom together. And it was a shame I couldn't be around for a lot of the back end of the Punjab tournament [IPL] where I broke my finger. I think in this tournament, to be captain and play under him, I feel like we've got a great opportunity to hopefully add to last year's trophy. [Bowling plan] We're trying to back that six to eight meter length as much as we possibly can, using our change of pace and chopping and changing our bowlers at different times as well. That seemed to work really well. Netravalkar was outstanding. He crashed that length the whole way. Got the big wicket of Hales and got us going. And Mark Adair did really well on debut, getting Narine out straight away, and he gets wickets at the front, and then puts a bit of panic when you've got the runs on the board. So it just made it a little bit easier for us at the back end. You just have to be adaptable. And I think the attitude that we've had throughout this group has been outstanding. They've just taken it on the chin and carried on. And it can unravel a group pretty quickly, without how many changes we've potentially had over the last couple of weeks, and even with Steve Smith's injury ruling him out of this as well, but I feel like the boys have been really resilient. They've been able to bounce back, find a way to win, and do it in our own way."

Jason Holder: "I thought he [Maxwell] held in well, deep into the innings, I think we dropped a crucial chance which paid or which made us pay in the end. I just think of the situation in the backend as well. We still need to execute a little bit better than we did. But having said that, you still need to give him the credit. [Chasing 200] We needed to set it up, but we also needed to make use of the Powerplay. Unfortunately, didn't do that. We lost too many wickets in the Powerplay. We never really got momentum in the middle. If anything, they [Washington Freedom] had a little bit more variable bumps. I believe that a few more balls stayed down. Some went off to the left, but having said that, I think if we had set it up a little bit better on we would have been able to give a good crack of it at the backend. Cricket is a game of momentum; we just need to win one. Once we get over the line in one game, then the belief starts to spread through the dressing room. So we just need to look at ourselves in a mirror and ask ourselves some very honest questions. But make sure that we still stay positive."

9:15 pm What a dreadful start for the LA Knight Riders with the bat! The Washington Freedom bowlers were on fire from the start. They started the innings with a wicket maiden over, taking the massive wicket of Alex Hales. LAKR was then left at a startling 0 for 2 as Sunil Narine was dismissed in the very next over. It was a total batting collapse for the Knight Riders, with all three of their top-order batters getting out for ducks. The latest to depart was Unmukt Chand, who struggled badly during his 7 ball stay at the crease. It looked like a batting disaster was unfolding for the Knight Riders, and their search for their first win of the season continues. None of their batters showed the kind of resilience needed after Maxwell's incredible innings earlier. Saif Badar was the top scorer for the Riders, scoring 32 runs. It was a brilliant day for the Freedom's bowling attack. Both Edwards and Owen were outstanding, each picking up three wickets. Netravalkar also did a fantastic job, bagging two wickets while giving away very few runs, with an economy of just 1.71.

Washington Freedom win by 113 runs

Netravalkar in

Strategic Timeout

USACricFan: "more like top 4 vs bottom 2. MI NY beats TSK if Pollard doesn't get run out :/"