Klaasen quits as Seattle Orcas captain, franchise parts ways with coach Mott

Seattle Orcas have gone through major leadership changes in the second half of MLC 2025, with captain Heinrich Klaasen stepping down from his role and the franchise removing their head coach Matthew Mott. The moves come after defeats in each of their first five games of the ongoing season which had consigned them to the bottom of the points table. A statement from MLC said Klaasen took the decision "to focus fully on his responsibilities as a batter". Sikandar Raza has been named captain for the remaining games.

The release was issued on June 27, not long before the start of their sixth league game, against MI New York in Dallas, which Orcas managed to win on the last ball. The team confirmed what they called "strategic mid-season leadership changes" and explained that Mott's exit was down to "differences in coaching and management strategies".

"This is a moment of reflection and renewal for the Seattle Orcas," Hemant Dua, Orcas chief executive, said in a statement. "This has been a tough run for the team, and with it, some difficult decisions had to be made. We are grateful to Matthew for his commitment and professionalism during his time with us, and we wish him the very best in his future endeavors."

Mott had taken charge prior to the ongoing season. No replacement has been named for him yet. Rishi Bhardwaj is the team's assistant coach, while Ian Bell and Munaf Patel are batting and bowling coaches respectively.

In what has largely been a high-scoring tournament, Orcas have scored 149 for 5, 200 for 5 and 177 for 6 batting first, and folded for 60 and 144 the two times they chased. Klaasen has been one of the underperformers with the bat for them, aggregating 55 runs at a strike rate of 144.73 in his five innings. Raza, whose "extensive international experience and cricketing intelligence" Orcas mentioned as reasons for being the "unanimous choice" to lead the team, has had a rough time with the bat, too: 35 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 85.36.

"We respect Heinrich's decision to step down voluntarily as captain to focus on his batting," Dua said. "This reflects his character and team-first mindset. Sikandar was our unanimous choice once we heard from Klaasen about his decision. We believe these changes set the stage for a strong second half of the season."

Orcas had finished bottom of the table in MLC 2024, too, after topping the table and making the final - where they lost to MINY - in the inaugural season in 2023. Wayne Parnell had led them that season, before Klaasen took over in 2024.

Orcas are co-owned, among others, by GMR Group and JSW Sports, who are also co-owners of Delhi Capitals in the IPL and WPL, and their entities in SA20 (Pretoria Capitals) and UAE's ILT20 (Dubai Capitals). Munaf and Venugopal Rao (general manager - cricket operations) are among the back room members Orcas share with the IPL team.