Seattle Orcas had won just one of their first three games in MLC 2026, but it all came together beautifully for them against Washington Freedom on Thursday. The 88-run win was enough for them to jump straight to No. 2 on the points table, behind the unbeaten Los Angeles Knight Riders.

Orcas got the sort of start they wanted, reaching 59 for no loss after the powerplay even as they slowed down to get to 79 for 2 at the halfway stage. But then they really turned in on thanks to Shimron Hetmyer and Marcus Stoinis. Matthew Breetzke had given the innings some momentum in partnership with Hetmyer, but when Breetzke got out in the 15th over, Orcas were solid without being spectacular at 138 for 3. Around 200 was expected, but not the 227 they got.

And that was down to Stoinis, their captain. Hetmyer was already on 44 off 20 balls and got to his half-century off 24 deliveries soon after, but Stoinis almost caught up with Hetmyer in a blaze of sixes. He hit five of them in one over, the 17th, bowled by medium pacer Ian Holland. From 4 off six balls, Stoinis was on 34 off 12, and though there was another big one in the next over, bowled by Marco Jansen, Stoinis fell for 42 off 16 deliveries the next ball.

Hetmyer, meanwhile, left it till the last over, which started with Orcas on 208 for 5. Jack Edwards was the bowler, and Hetmyer went 6, 6, 6 off the first three balls. That was enough to take Orcas to a huge total, and for Hetmyer to finish on 79 not out off 33 balls.

With that many runs to chase down, Freedom needed a solid start. Instead, they were 42 for 5 after the powerplay, having lost most of the big guns: Steven Smith, Mitchell Owen, Andries Gous, Glenn Maxwell and Edwards. Jasdeep Singh had four of the five wickets, including three in his second over – the fifth of the innings – where he got Gous first ball, Maxwell off the next, and Edwards off the fifth. Smith was already in the bag from his first over, and Jasdeep came back in the 14th to complete his five-for with Jansen’s wicket.

At one point, it looked like the record for the biggest victory margin (by runs) in MLC – currently 123 from when San Francisco Unicorns beat Freedom last season – would be broken. That it wasn’t was thanks to runs from Freedom’s Nos. 8, 9 and 10. Amila Aponso top-scored for Freedom with 31 not out from 13 balls from No. 10, and the men before him, Holland and Jansen, contributed 46 from 39 deliveries between them.

The latest defeat, their second in three games, left Freedom at the bottom of the table.

Scores:
Seattle Orcas 227 for 6 in 20 overs (Tim Seifert 37, Shayan Jahangir22, matthew Breetzket 32, Shimron  Hetmyer 79*, Marcus Stoinis 42, Ali Sheikh 11; Marco Jansen 3-33, jack Edwards 1-56, Ian Holland 2-49) beat Washington Freedom 139 in 16.2 overs (Andries Gous 18.Obus Pienaar 10, Marco Jansen 20, Ian Holland 26, Amila Aponso 31*; Marcus Stoinis 1-20,  Jasdeep Singh 5-24, ottneil Baartman 1-11, Cameron Gannon 2-16, Harmeet Singh 1-40) by 88 runs

[Cricinfo]

Sweden salvaged a 1-1 draw with Japan as both sides confirmed their progress to the World Cup knockout rounds after Anthony Elanga curled in a 62nd-minute equaliser to earn his side a share of the points in Group F.

Elanga struck six minutes after Daizen Maeda had finished off a team move of the highest quality for Japan, who finish second in the group with five points to set up a last 32 clash with five-time world champions Brazil.

The Swedes remain third with four points, and that will be enough to secure one of the eight slots available in the next phase for the best third-placed teams across the 12 groups.

The points were shared after a tepid first half that only showed signs of life moments before the interval on Thursday.

Keito Nakamura went closest to opening the scoring, the Japan winger hitting a low first-time strike from Maeda’s layoff that forced Jacob Widell Zetterstrom into a full-stretch save to push the ball around his left post.

Viktor Gyokeres then found space at the other end to drive towards goal, with a deflection from Shogo Taniguchi looping the resulting shot well wide of the target.

The Japanese came out for the second half with intent, with Ao Tanaka’s wayward strike underlining that Hajime Moriyasu’s side would not be content to sit back and take a point.

The dynamism of their play was rewarded when Maeda applied the finishing touch to an exquisite team goal instigated by Ritsu Doan.

The winger received a return pass from Ayase Ueda as he cut in from the right and slid the ball into the space between the Swedish centre-backs for the unmarked Maeda to stroke his shot home.

Japan’s lead was to last six minutes, however, as Elanga contributed a quality finish of his own to equalise, bending a left-foot strike from the corner of the area over the Japanese defence and past the unsighted Zion Suzuki.

Suzuki had to be at his sharpest to keep the scores level three minutes later with a sprawling save to his left to keep out Alexander Isak’s attempt, as the Swedes belatedly started to show their attacking quality.

And the goalkeeper was on hand to deny Isak again in stoppage time, palming the forward’s header into the air to confirm a second-place finish for the Japanese.

[Aljazeera]