MLC: Dwayne Bravo's Valiant 76* In vain As Washington Freedom Beat Texas Super Kings

The Washington Freedom put up a clinical performance to take down Texas Super Kings by six runs in the fifth match of Major League Cricket (MLC) at Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas on Sunday. The Washington Freedom put up a total of 163/5 in their 20 overs before restricting the Texas Super Kings to 157/7, as per a press release from MLC. In their defence of 164 runs, Marco Jansen got Washington Freedom off to the perfect start with the ball when he bowled out Devon Conway in the very first over. Captain Faf du Plessis (14) followed his opening partner after falling to Saurabh Netravalkar in the fourth over as the Super Kings found themselves in deep trouble at 21/2.

Dane Piedt and Akeal Hosein made matters worse for the Texas Super Kings after sending David Miller (14), Milind Kumar (3) and Lahiru Milantha (15) back to the pavilion in quick succession. The Super Kings were reeling at 50/5 in 8.5 overs. Mitchell Santner struck two sixes off Piedt's bowling in the 12th over, but he was also sent packing by Moises Henriques in the 14th over for a knock of 22. TSK was 78/6 in 14 overs.

However, Dwayne Bravo took matters into his own hands and kept the Super Kings in the game with a flurry of boundaries and sixes. He smashed 56 off 33 balls to take the equation down to 27 runs from 6 balls. Bravo managed to hit 10 runs in the first three deliveries of the final over, but, Anrich Nortje closed out the game brilliantly for Washington Freedom. Bravo played a commendable knock of 76* in just 39 balls, consisting of five fours and six sixes.

Hosein (2/25) and Jansen (2/31) were the pick of the bowlers for Freedom.

Earlier in the day, Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Matthew Short and Andries Gous got