Siddle, Short and Pretorius guide SFU to comfortable win
Lhuan-Dre Pretorius scored an unbeaten 69 in his team's win © Sportzpics
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The ageless Peter Siddle returned 3/36 while Matthew Short picked two wickets to help San Francisco Unicorns keep Texas Super Kings down to 152/9. In chase, Lhuan-dre Pretorius starred with an unbeaten 69 off 55 while Short chipped in with a quick, vital 31 to ensure his team got over the finishing line comfortably in the 18th over.
The 41-year-old fast bowler struck on his first ball after skyexchange cricket were asked to bat first, taking out Saiteja Mukkamalla. Brody Couch made the more crucial incision in the following over, dismissing TSK's centurion from the last game Faf du Plessis for just six runs. TSK struggled to get going as they Milind Kumar too inside the Powerplay and Shubham Ranjane just beyond it, in the eighth over. Rilee Rossouw and Wiaan Mulder attempted a partnership for the fifth wicket, but couldn't take it too far. They put together 31 off 22 before Rossouw was run out in the 12th over, leaving TSK down to 81/5. TSK slid further very quickly, falling to 86/7 before Hardus Viljoen stitched three key stands to push TSK to a respectable total.
He and Donovan Ferreira arrested the slide first, taking the team past 100 runs. They batted together for 23 deliveries, scoring 36 runs but were then separated when Ferreira was run out. Amshi de Silva then got hit-wicket while attempting to scoop a Siddle delivery in the 19th over. But 50 runs off the last four overs ensured TSK just about went past 150, to give their bowlers a shot at making a game out the fixture. This game also marked Ravichandran Ashwin's much-awaited MLC debut, where he finished with 0-24 in two overs.
Nandre Burger dismissed Finn Allen in the first over of the run-chase, but SFU flew with a second-wicket partnership between Pretorius and his captain Short. They quickly moved on from the early wicket as fours and sixes came easy in the Powerplay.
They too 15 each off an over Viljoen and Amshi, powering their team past 50 in just the fifth over. SFU had 65 at the close of Powerplay, pushing well ahead of the asking rate at that stage. The field restrictions relaxed but the two batters' urge to find the boundary didn't as they carried on in the same vein. Amshi finally ended their carnage in the ninth over by trapping Short leg before for a 19-ball 31. An over later, Pretorius got to a 32-ball half-century. SFU had 98/2 in 10 overs, and needed to score under six in the second half of the chase.
The boundaries eased in this period but SFU were still comfortable in chase. Connor Esterhuizen combined with the opener for another partnership, but could only drag it as far as 15th over when he was dismissed by Viljoen. Sanjay Krishnamurthi then joined Pretorius and saw the remainder of the chase through.
Brief Scores: Texas Super Kings 152/9 in 20 overs (Rilee Rossouw 36, Hardus Viljoen 33*; Peter Siddle 3-36, Matthew Short 2-25) lost to San Francisco Unicorns 153/3 in 17.5 overs (Lhuan-dre Pretorius 69*, Matthew Short 31; Nandre Burger 1-13) by 7 wickets
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