# 2023 Major League Cricket final

The 2023 Major League Cricket final was a day/night 20-over cricket match played on July 30, 2023, at Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas between the Seattle Orcas and the MI New York to determine the winner of the inaugural season of Major League Cricket. The MI New York won the match and the title by defeating the Seattle Orcas by 6 wickets. MI New York player, Nicholas Pooran, was named man of the match for his 55-ball 137*.

## Background

On June 13, 2023, the schedule for the 2023 season of Major League Cricket was released. 2 venues, Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas and Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina were scheduled to host the games. The play-off schedule was announced on the same day, with Grand Prairie due to host all play-off matches. The final was played between Seattle and New York on July 30, with the latter winning the title by 7 wickets.

## Road to the final

| Seattle Orcas | Seattle Orcas | Seattle Orcas | Seattle Orcas | MI New York | MI New York | MI New York |
| League Stage |||||||
| Opponent | Scorecard | Result | Titles | Opponent | Scorecard | Result |
| Washington Freedom | July 14, 2023 | Won | Match 1 | San Francisco Unicorns | July 14, 2023 | Lost |
| San Francisco Unicorns | July 15, 2023 | Won | Match 2 | Los Angeles Knight Riders | July 16, 2023 | Won |
| Texas Super Kings | July 21, 2023 | Won | Match 3 | Texas Super Kings | July 17, 2023 | Lost |
| Los Angeles Knight Riders | July 23, 2023 | Lost | Match 4 | Washington Freedom | July 23, 2023 | Won |
| MI New York | July 24, 2023 | Won | Match 5 | Seattle Orcas | July 24, 2023 | Lost |
| Playoff stage |||||||
| Qualifier |||||||
| Opponent | Scorecard | Result | Titles | Opponent | Scorecard | Result |
| Texas Super Kings | July 27, 2023 | Won | Match 6 | | | |
| Eliminator |||||||
| Opponent | Scorecard | Result | Titles | | | |
| | | | Match 7 | Washington Freedom | July 27, 2023 | Won |
| Challenger |||||||
| Opponent | Scorecard | Result | Titles | | | |
| | | | Match 8 | Texas Super Kings | July 28, 2023 | Won |
| 2023 Major League Cricket final |||||||

### Group stage

In the start to their inaugural campaign, the Orcas went top of the table by recording a 5-wicket win over the Washington Freedom, a 35-run win over the San Francisco Unicorns, and an 8-wicket win over the Texas Super Kings. The Orcas' winning streak was snapped, however, during a 2-wicket defeat to the Los Angeles Knight Riders. A 2-wicket win over MI New York assured the Orcas' a first-place finish going into the finals nevertheless.
In contrast, New York began their campaign with a 22-run defeat to San Francisco. This was followed by a 105-run win over Los Angeles in their second game, a 17-run loss to Texas in their third, and a 8-wicket win over Washington in their fourth. In their final group stage game, they lost to table-toppers Seattle by 2 wickets. Despite the loss, they nevertheless still qualified for the play-offs.

### Playoffs

The playoffs were played in a similar fashion to the Big Bash League, with Seattle defeating Texas by 9 wickets in the Qualifier and New York recording back-to-back victories against Washington and Texas in the Eliminator and Challenger matches, respectively, to go to the finals.
* Eliminator July 27, 2023 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| MI New York 141/7 (20 overs) | v | Washington Freedom 125/9 (20 overs) |
| Dewald Brevis 57 (41) Saurabh Netravalkar 2/25 (4 overs) | | Marco Jansen 28 (18) Trent Boult 4/20 (4 overs) |
* MI New York won by 16 runs Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Rushane Samuels (WI) Player of the match: Dewald Brevis (MI New York)
* Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to field.
* Qualifier July 27, 2023 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Texas Super Kings 126/9 (20 overs) | v | Seattle Orcas 127/1 (15 overs) |
| Daniel Sams 26* (25) Andrew Tye 3/32 (4 overs) | | Quinton de Kock 88* (50) Rusty Theron 1/20 (3 overs) |
* Seattle Orcas won by 9 wickets Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Vijay Mallela (USA) and Billy Taylor (Eng) Player of the match: Quinton de Kock (Seattle Orcas)
* Texas Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat.
* Challenger July 28, 2023 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Texas Super Kings 158 (20 overs) | v | MI New York 162/4 (19 overs) |
| Devon Conway 38 (35) Trent Boult 4/24 (4 overs) | | Dewald Brevis 41* (33) Rusty Theron 1/12 (2 overs) |
* MI New York won by 6 wickets Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Jermaine Lindo (USA) and Paul Wilson (Aus) Player of the match: Trent Boult (MI New York)
* MI New York won the toss and elected to field.

## Match
### Match officials

* On-field umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Paul Wilson (AUS)
* Third umpire: Billy Taylor (ENG)
* Reserve umpire: Jermaine Lindo (USA)
* Match referee: Simon Taufel (AUS)
* Toss: MI New York won the toss and elected to field.

### Summary

Following New York's decision to field first, Quinton de Kock played a brilliant knock of 87 runs off 56 deliveries, with Shubham Ranjane's 29 off 16 and Dwaine Pretorius's cameo of 21 runs off 7 taking Seattle to 183 runs for the loss of 9 wickets. With the ball for New York, Rashid Khan and Trent Boult both picked up 3 wickets a piece, with Steven Taylor and David Wiese taking a wicket each. In the chase, Imad Wasim and Wayne Parnell got some early breakthroughs for Seattle but couldn't stop Nicholas Pooran's stunning knock of 137* off 55 deliveries taking New York to a maiden MLC title.

### Seattle Orcas innings

Seattle got off to a slow start, with New York's Trent Boult and spinners keeping Quinton de Kock and Nauman Anwar in check. Anwar eventually fell in the fourth over to Rashid Khan, trying to loft a back-of-a-length delivery over leg. de Kock and Shehan Jayasuriya steadied the innings, accumulating 41 runs for the second wicket, before Jayasuriya was out caught and bowled by Steven Taylor. Hienrich Klaasen, too, fell for 4 off Rashid's bowling in the twelfth over. Thunderbolts' player Shubham Ranjane then came in a played a cameo of 29 as de Kock fell for 87 to Trent Boult. Imad Wasim and Andrew Tye fell for relatively low scores in the death before Pretorius's cameo of 21 in the final over powered Seattle to 183 for 9.

### MI New York innings

In response to Seattle's 183 for 9, New York's Steven Taylor was bowled by Wasim early into the innings, trying to loft a shot for a maximum. Even as Nicholas Pooran was unleashing a blistering assault at the other end, Shayan Jahangir failed to pick up the pace and was eventually caught by Tye off Parnell for 10. Dewald Brevis then came into the mix, with him rotating the strike back to Pooran, who was single-handedly winning the game for New York. Seattle's bowlers were unable to find a response against Pooran, before they finally found a breakthrough after Brevis was run out for 20. With the score 137/3 after 12.2, Pooran and Tim David steered the chase and won the game for New York by 7 wickets.
* Final July 30, 2023 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Seattle Orcas 183/9 (20 overs) | v | MI New York 184/3 (16 overs) |
| Quinton de Kock 87 (52) Rashid Khan 3/9 (4 overs) | | Nicholas Pooran 137* (55) Imad Wasim 1/14 (2 overs) |
* MI New York won by 7 wickets Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas Umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Paul Wilson (Aus) Player of the match: Nicholas Pooran (MI New York)
* MI New York won the toss and elected to field.
* The MI New York won the inaugural Major League Cricket tournament as a result of this match.

### Scorecard

Seattle Orcas innings :
| Player | Status | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Strike rate |
| Quinton de Kock† | b Boult | 87 | 52 | 9 | 4 | 167.30 |
| Nauman Anwar | st †Pooran b Rashid Khan | 9 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 69.23 |
| Shehan Jayasuriya | c & b Taylor | 16 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 106.66 |
| Heinrich Klaasen | c Boult b Rashid Khan | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 57.14 |
| Shubham Ranjane | c Kenjige b Boult | 29 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 181.25 |
| Imad Wasim | c Wiese b Rashid Khan | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 116.66 |
| Dwaine Pretorius | c David b Wiese | 21 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 300.00 |
| Andrew Tye | c Jasdeep Singh b Boult | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Wayne Parnell (c) | run out (Brevis/Wiese/†Pooran) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 200.00 |
| Harmeet Singh | not out | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 200.00 |
| Cameron Gannon | did not bat | | | | | |
| Extras 5 ( lb 1, wd 4) Total 183/9 (20 overs) | Extras 5 ( lb 1, wd 4) Total 183/9 (20 overs) | Extras 5 ( lb 1, wd 4) Total 183/9 (20 overs) | Extras 5 ( lb 1, wd 4) Total 183/9 (20 overs) | 20 | 6 | 9.15 RR |
Fall of wickets: 25/1 (Nauman Anwar, 4.1 ov.), 66/2 (Shehan Jayasuriya, 9.1 ov.), 91/3 (Heinrich Klaasen, 12.1 ov.), 142/4 (Quinton de Kock†, 16.1 ov.), 157/5 (Imad Wasim, 17.6 ov.), 157/6 (Shubham Ranjane, 18.1 ov.), 163/7 (Andrew Tye, 18.5 ov.), 181/8 (Dwaine Pretorius, 19.5 ov.), 183/9 (Wayne Parnell, 19.6 ov.)
MI New York bowling :
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Econ | Wides | NBs |
| Trent Boult | 4 | 0 | 34 | 3 | 8.50 | 1 | 0 |
| Jasdeep Singh | 2 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 16.50 | 0 | 0 |
| Rashid Khan | 4 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 2.25 | 0 | 0 |
| Steven Taylor | 4 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 6.25 | 0 | 0 |
| David Wiese | 4 | 0 | 65 | 1 | 16.25 | 3 | 0 |
| Nosthush Kenjige | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8.00 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim David | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8.00 | 0 | 0 |
MI New York innings :
| Player | Status | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Strike rate |
| Steven Taylor | b Imad Wasim | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Shayan Jahangir | c Tye b Parnell | 10 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 90.90 |
| Nicholas Pooran† | not out | 137 | 55 | 10 | 13 | 249.09 |
| Dewald Brevis | run out (Harmeet Singh) | 20 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 111.11 |
| Tim David | not out | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 111.11 |
| Hammad Azam | did not bat | | | | | |
| David Wiese | did not bat | | | | | |
| Rashid Khan | did not bat | | | | | |
| Nosthush Kenjige | did not bat | | | | | |
| Trent Boult | did not bat | | | | | |
| Jasdeep Singh | did not bat | | | | | |
| Extras 7 (lb 1, wd 6) Total 184/3 (16 overs) | Extras 7 (lb 1, wd 6) Total 184/3 (16 overs) | Extras 7 (lb 1, wd 6) Total 184/3 (16 overs) | Extras 7 (lb 1, wd 6) Total 184/3 (16 overs) | 13 | 15 | 11.50 RR |
Fall of wickets: 0/1 (Steven Taylor, 0.3 ov.), 62/2 (Shayan Jahangir, 4.6 ov.), 137/3 (Dewald Brevis, 12.2 ov.)
Seattle Orcas bowling :
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Econ | Wides | NBs |
| Imad Wasim | 2 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 7.00 | 0 | 0 |
| Cameron Gannon | 4 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 | 0 |
| Dwaine Pretorius | 3 | 0 | 47 | 0 | 15.66 | 1 | 0 |
| Wayne Parnell | 2 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 11.00 | 1 | 0 |
| Andrew Tye | 2 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 13.50 | 0 | 0 |
| Harmeet Singh | 3 | 0 | 37 | 0 | 12.33 | 3 | 0 |