The Oakland leg of the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2026 season is underway. After runs were scored for fun in Dallas, batters from the San Francisco Unicorns (SFU) and the Texas Super Kings (TSK) managed just 300 runs at the Coliseum on June 25. It’ll be fascinating to see whether the Washington Freedom (WF) vs Seattle Orcas (SO) match goes down the same route.
WF are 1-1. The loss was to SO in their tournament opener. Their average first innings score is 230.50. One wonders whether they’ll manage anything near that in Oakland, given that bowlers are getting more assistance. The Orcas are worse off. Their only victory was over WF, and they are 1-2.
WF vs SO: Match Details
- Match Number: 9
- Date: Friday, June 26
- Venue: Oakland Coliseum, California
- Toss Time: 6:30 AM IST
- Start Time: 7:00 AM IST
Oakland Coliseum Pitch Report
The Oakland Coliseum offers true bounce, a quick outfield, and an overall balanced surface for batters and bowlers. There will be some early movement for fast bowlers, and spin will play a role. The shorter square boundaries mean more cross-bat hits. We saw something similar in the SFU vs TSK match, where 162 were defended with ease. Expect something similar.
Predicted Playing XIs
Washington Freedom: Steve Smith (c), Mitchell Owen, Mark Chapman, Glenn Maxwell, Jack Edwards, Andries Gous (wk), Obus Pienaar, Ian Holland, Marco Jansen, Saurabh Netravalkar, Asif Mehmood
Seattle Orcas: Tim Seifert (wk), Shayan Jahangir, Matthew Breetzke, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis (c), Dasun Shanaka, Ali Sheikh, Harmeet Singh, Cameron Gannon, Jasdeep Singh, Ottneil Baartman
WF vs SO: Head-to-Head Record in MLC
| Matches Won | |
|---|---|
| Washington Freedom | 3 |
| Seattle Orcas | 2 |
| No Result | 0 |
WF vs SO Match Prediction
If bowlers come more into the fray, batting might decide the game. The Orcas have four batters in super touch – Tim Seifert, Shayan Jahangir, Matthew Breetzke, and Dasun Shanaka. However, their bowling is in tatters. They are playing Shanaka as the fifth bowler, who has gone for 131 runs in 10.4 overs but picked up 5 wickets. Cameron Ganoon is 127/1 in 10 overs.
However, their bowling issues might be fine against Washington. Glenn Maxwell can’t get bat on ball. He’s registered a golden duck and scored 7 off 9 in the other innings. Steve Smith has found runs but at a slow pace – 24 off 20 and 27 off 21. Marco Jansen has gone for 74 runs in 7 overs and taken just 1 wicket. Mitch Owen has done well, but can he provide a rapid start in every game? That is the question.
- Prediction: Seattle Orcas to win
MLC 2026: Live streaming & broadcast details
The WF vs SO match and the entire MLC 2026 season will be available on the Star Sports network on television. For the online audience, live streaming will be available on the JioHotstar app and website.
