JANSEN BOWLS WASHINGTON FREEDOM TO MLC TITLE

Marco Jansen delivered an explosive new-ball spell to spearhead Washington Freedom’s charge to the Major League Cricket Season 2 championship title in Dallas on Sunday.

The lanky left-arm seamer has now added the MLC trophy to his list of honours after winning successive Betway SA20 titles with Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

After claiming 5/30 in the SA20 Season 2 Final at Newlands, Jansen enjoyed figures of 4-1-28-3 in the MLC showpiece.

The Freedom had set San Francisco Unicorns 208 runs for victory, courtesy of former Australian captain Steve Smith’s 88 of 52 balls (7x4, 6x6) and Glenn Maxwell’s 40 off 22 balls (1x4, 4x6). 

The Unicorns required a good start if they were to complete the highest successful chase in an MLC final, but were rocked early on by Jansen.

Sending down hard lengths across Jake-Fraser McGurk, the right-hander could only manage a thick inside off Jansen's delivery that crashed into his stumps for the Freedom's opening breakthrough.

A further off-pace delivery on a length outside off had Finn Allen swiping across the line, but he too could only inside-edge it back on his stumps.

It was a major blow for the Unicorns as Allen had blasted a century off just 52 balls to knock out Faf du Plessis’ Texas Super Kings in the Challenger.

With fellow left-arm seamer Saurabh Netravalkar also bagging a wicket in between Jansen’s double strikes, the Unicorns were sinking fast at 30/3 in the powerplay.

They never managed to recover with Jansen returning during the middle overs to bounce out the dangerous Hasan Khan (13 off 6 balls, 1x4, 1x6) as the Unicorns collapsed to 111 all out in just 16 overs.

“Great feeling around the group, talking and learning cricket,” said Washington Freedom coach Ricky Ponting.

“I told them it will take a really good team to beat you this year. Thrilled for the guys, they worked hard and thoroughly deserve to be champions.”

Du Plessis finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer in Season 2 - and the first batter to pass the magical 400-run mark in MLC - with 420 runs at an average of 52.50.

Netravalkar continued his sensational rise the past few months after an excellent ICC Men's T20 World Cup with the USA as the leading wicket-taker in MLC Season 2. The southpaw claimed 15 wickets at an average of 13.46.