There are explosive starts in T20 cricket, and then there was what Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Finn Allen produced in Oakland on Monday night.
Chasing 191 against Washington Freedom, the San Francisco Unicorns openers unleashed mayhem. They ended the contest before it had a chance to breathe. Allen came out swinging from ball one, hammering 45 off just 18 deliveries with four fours and four sixes. Pretorius was even more destructive. The South African left-hander blasted 66 from only 26 balls, striking at 253.84 while clearing the ropes seven times.
By the time Allen departed in the sixth over, the damage was already done. By the end of the Powerplay, the Unicorns had smashed 104/1, the highest six-over score in Major League Cricket history. The previous record belonged to the Seattle Orcas, who had managed 86/3 against MI New York in 2025. Pretorius and Allen didn’t merely break that mark but obliterated it.
Together, they stitched a 102-run opening stand in only 5.4 overs. Washington Freedom’s bowling attack, featuring the likes of Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson and Saurabh Netravalkar, simply had no answers.
Pretorius continues dream season
Lhuan-dre Pretorious has been going under the radar a bit. He has literally taken T20 by storm, having operated at a strike rate of nearly 145 in T20s. The 20-year-old’s scores in MLC 2026 now read: 58, 69*, 17, 87 and 66. That gives him 297 runs from just five innings, making him the tournament’s second-highest run-scorer behind Mitchell Owen. He averages 74.25 and has struck at 182.21 so far at MLC.
Pretorius was largely on the fringes during his brief IPL opportunities with Rajasthan Royals, but the youngster has looked like a completely different player since emerging through the Paarl Royals setup in SA20. With Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi being there at RR, Pretorious didn’t have chances. But if Jaiswal’s trade deal goes ahead, RR have a readymade opening option in Pretorious.
Allen, meanwhile, has carried forward the momentum he built during IPL 2026 and New Zealand’s T20 World Cup campaign. The Kiwi opener has always been among the most dangerous Powerplay batters in world cricket, but his partnership with Pretorius is now becoming one of the defining stories of this MLC season.
After the opening assault, Matthew Short (34* off 26) and Aaron Hardie (42* off 22) brutally completed the chase as San Francisco reached 193/2 with 29 balls remaining.
Ironically, Washington Freedom had done plenty right with the bat. Andries Gous smashed an unbeaten 83 from 50 balls, Mitchell Owen contributed 39 off 20, and Nikhil Chaudhary added a handy 32. Their 190/4 would have been enough to win most T20 matches.
Highest Powerplay Scores in MLC History
| Team | Score | Opposition | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco Unicorns | 104/1 | Washington Freedom | 2026 |
| Seattle Orcas | 86/3 | MI New York | 2025 |
Lhuan-dre Pretorius in MLC 2026
| Innings | Score |
|---|---|
| 1 | 66 (26) |
| 2 | 69 (55) |
| 3 | 17 (15) |
| 4 | 87 (39) |
| 5 | 66 (26) |
With three wins in five matches, the Unicorns have climbed to the top half of the table.
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