Washington vs Seattle, 3rd Match at Dallas, MLC, Jul 14 2023 - Ball by Ball Commentary

11:40pm Right. That brings us to the end of our coverage for this game. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. Tomorrow, we will be back as the San Francisco Unicorns, who also registered a win today, clash with the Seattle Orcas. Until next time, this is me (Shashwat) signing off on behalf of Binoy George and everyone else at ESPNcricinfo. Goodbye and take care!

Wayne Parnell, Seattle Orcas captain: (On how he is feeling) Obviously you get judged on winning games. but I was pleased with the whole process. senior players putting up their hands and the local players standing up. (On the bowling performance) We were pretty good overall. We can always get better. Today was about keeping things simple. It was a fresh wicket so we did not know what to expect. Pretty happy with our plans and how we executed them. (Batting approach) Again, keeping things simple - see ball, hit ball kind of thing. In the previous games, we have seen a lot of wickets have fallen in the powerplay. We did not score the runs we wanted but we did not lose a lot of wickets either.

Moises Henriques, Washington Freedom captain: It was a good game of cricket. It was the third game on that wicket and it was just starting to show a bit of up-and-down (characteristics). (Did the conditions change under lights) When I was batting, there were a few that were starting to keep low. It definitely got easier as the ball got older. When the ball was new and hard, there was more variable bounce. We fought our way to mid-140s. If we had held our chances, we had our moments to win the game.

Imad Wasim, Player of the Match: (On bowling with the new ball) The first half, the wicket was really good. We bowled well to restrict them. In the second half, it was really tough and we had to grind it out, and go over by over. (On batting plans) Always be calm and see the scoreboard. See who you want to target. In powerplay, it is hard (to bat). The way to go is to play cricketing shots and not take many risks. Once you go through that phase, you can always catch up. When I saw the conditions, they were demanding and I had to grind my way through and not leave too much at the end.

Shimron Hetmyer: (On the conditions) It was just a little bit more difficult. But I guess you have to find a way regardless of the conditions and the situations to get the job done. (On Imad batting higher than him) It is about what the team wants. I am a team player and I will do whatever the team wants from me. (On the atmosphere) It is really good. It is very hot, that is the only thing. I was struggling a little bit. The crowd is really nice and to have people cheering you on, feels really nice. (On how they intend to prepare for the match tomorrow) Think it is about focussing again. The idea is to go from strength to strength in every game.

11:23pm The Orcas get the job done with two balls to spare. Ranjane applied the finishing touches but the bulk of the work was done by Nauman, Hetmyer and Imad, who remained unbeaten at the end. Imad seemed to lack rhythm but ensured that he was at the crease, soaking up all the pressure. In an ideal world, they would have wanted to polish off this run-chase a lot quicker but they will be happy that they now have two points on the board.

As for Washington, they bowled with plenty of heart and had they held on to their chances, could have even emerged victorious. From the start, though, they were playing catch-up and that was largely down to them not having enough runs on the board - something they would want to rectify moving forward.

One run needed off three balls now. Jansen comes around the wicket

Ranjane is the new batter at the crease. This could the window of opportunity Washington were after...

Thrd man comes up and long off goes back

Five more singles and the Orcas will be home...

Six needed off the final over, which will be bowled by Jansen

steve: "Super Over?? yes please"

Six needed off seven balls. Can Hetmyer finish it off with one stroke?

Just eight needed now

Netravalkar to bowl the penultimate over. Can he redeem for that dropped catch?

17 off 13 now and the situation seems to be more under control for the Orcas

Jay Deshpande: "Staying up following the match from Chicago. I knew it would be a question of time until we had a thriller on the cards."

Nortje to bowl out

Hetmyer 6 off 9 now

Piedt to bowl out

You can sense the tension now. The Orcas want a boundary or two to relieve the pressure but they have not been able to find them so far. Required run rate up to 9.5 now