Seattle Orcas vs MI New York: Who won today's MLC 2023 Final?

The mother of all battles unfolded on July 30 as MLC geared up to host their first final between Seattle Orcas and MI New York at Grand Prairie Stadium. It turned out to be a high-scoring thriller packed with intense fireworks and endless entertainment. MI New York finally managed to put an end to Seattle’s domination by clinching their first-ever MLC title in emphatic style.

Orcas got off to a steady start. They built partnerships during the early and middle phases of the first innings despite losing some quick wickets. Quinton de Kock was the main contributor with the bat. He along with Shubnam Ranjane and Dwaine Pretorius helped Seattle finish their first innings with a competitive score of 183.

Required to chase down a stiff target of 184, Nicholas Pooran made a mockery of Seattle’s bowling attack and took them to the cleaners. He single-handedly did the bulk of the scoring at a very electrifying pace which propelled MI New York to a crashing victory in record time. Seattle Orcas bowlers had no answer to Pooran’s aggression and had no option but to bow down to his audacious brilliance.

Following the conclusion of the final match, MI New York walk away with the trophy. After enduring a scratchy season, the team bounced back well in the latter stages of the tournament. While for Seattle, this must have been an agonizing defeat who have been consistently delivering right throughout the tournament.

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Nicholas Pooran’s blistering innings power MI New York to their maiden MLC Title

After having been asked to bat first by MINY, Seattle managed to score just 31 runs for the loss of one wicket in the first six overs. This was by far their lowest powerplay score of this season. Quinton de Kock and Shehan Jayasuriya kept the engine running after the powerplay and stitched a carefully orchestrated 41-run stand for the second wicket.

However, wickets were tumbling at the other end as Heinrich Klaasen was removed during the 13th over against the run of play. Rashid Khan was at his miserly best and finished with incredible bowling figures of 3/9. Boult too picked up a three-fer using the knuckle ball to good effect in the death overs. Barring these bowlers, the rest of the MINY bowing card doesn’t look good as many bowlers including Wiese went around for plenty.

Quinton ended his innings on a high after playing a terrific knock of 87 from 52. Furthermore, a few decent cameos from Shubnam Ranjane and Dwaine Pretorius helped the Orcas edge past the 180-run mark.

In pursuit of 184, MI New York got off to the worst possible start after losing their local hero Taylor without a run on the board. But little did Seattle Orcas know what was heading their way. From this point onwards, it was only a one-man show as Nicholas Pooran took the matter into his own hands.

He launched a brutal assault by scoring a ground-breaking century which completely obliterated a formidable Orcas bowling attack. He raced to his century in just 40 balls and did the bulk of the heaving lifting to power New York to their maiden MLC title. Pooran scored at an exhilarating strike rate of nearly 250 and notched up an unbeaten 137 off 55 balls. His electrifying innings comprised 13 monstrous sixes and 10 fours.

His power-hitting turned out to be so brutal that the match concluded nearly 45 minutes before the expected cessation time. Pooran was in a rush to finish the game for his side and hit the winning runs to take MINY to a crushing victory with 24 balls to spare. Barring Pooran, the rest of the batting card looked very ordinary, to say the least.

As for the Orcas, they will be a little disappointed with their execution. All of their bowlers were dismantled and on the big occasion, they just could not turn up to stop the Pooran juggernaut.